Candy is bright, fun and colorful on its own. But when you fire up the oven or simply bust out the kitchen scissors, it can take on new and improved life as batches of animals, creative cakes and super creative holiday inventions.
That's the idea behind Candy Aisle Crafts: Create Fun Projects with Supermarket Sweets, published by Potter Craft, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. It's the brainchild of writer/crafter Jodi Levine, a Brooklyn mom of two young boys. Her sweet tooth for turning goodies into buoyantly colorful, totally edible projects is addictive – whether it's melting peppermints into festive "tree pops" or snipping gumdrops for a "gummy animal menorah." Her projects span themes and celebrations, all beautifully photographed by Amy Gropp Forbes.
But whatever creation you decide to tackle, it's sure to be fun and easy for kids to join in on (with mom or dad manning the oven, of course!). The publisher was nice enough to share one of the creations with Metro Parent – a mama and baby penguin snuggled up alongside a pile of "rock candy ice." This one only requires some candy and scissors. So hit your favorite local grocery store and get crafting!
Materials
- Scissors
- 1 regular marshmallow
- 3 black gumdrops
- toothpick
- 2 black nonpareils
- 1 orange gumdrop
- Haribo Raspberry
Instructions
- To make the mama penguin torso, cut a sliver off the flat top of the marshmallow where the head will go. Cut two angled sides where the wings will attach.
- For wings, cut two slim pieces off the side of a black gumdrop. Press the pieces onto the cut sides of the marshmallow. They'll stick.
- To create the head, on the side of the second black gumdrop, use the toothpick to poke two holes for eyes. With the now-sticky toothpick, pick up the nonpareils and push them into the holes.
- Cut an angled piece off the side of the orange gumdrop for a beak. Roll it between your fingers to make it pointy. Cut a sliver off the back of the beak so that it is sticky. Use the toothpick to scrape away the sugary coating on the black gumdrop head to expose some stickiness, and press on the beak. Press the head onto the body.
- For the penguin baby, you use only one black gumdrop for the body and a black Haribo Raspberry for the head. Add a beak by scraping away some raspberry sprinkles and skip the nonpareil eyes.
Note: Instructions are reprinted with permission from the publisher.
