It’s Candy Making Time!!

My kids love to be in the kitchen with me, and I love to have them there, helping me cook. I try to use the time spent not only having fun and enjoying their company and help, but as an opportunity to teach them something.

Baking and cooking are great ways to teach kids math – fractions, addition – and even a bit of science depending on what you are making.

But thanks to Glee Gum, you can also give them a bit of knowledge about candy making and how different ingredients are used to make some of their treats!!

V and I were very excited to make our own chocolate with a kit from Glee Gum a couple of years ago, and when the opportunity arose to check out their gummy making kit, I knew both my kids would really enjoy it.

Each kit comes with all of the ingredients that you need to make delicious gummy treats.

I will admit – I was pretty surprised to see that the main ingredients we were using were different kinds of seaweed!! I had no idea that seaweed produced a gelatine like substance that could be used to make gummy candies gummy. It was really fun reading about it in the kit, and the kids were really excited to see the seaweed — something neither of them had ever touched before.

The process was pretty easy from start to finish. I found that the hardest part about making the gummies was actually making the mold. Many of the items that the kids wanted me to press into the molding starch just didn’t work. They either were too big or not big enough, and I found that the starch stuck to them making it hard to get a clean, clear shape.

I ended up just doing some very basic shapes with a spoon, my fingers, and a cute butterfly shape that worked out nicely.

I was happy that there wasn’t much of a wait time in between creating the gummy mixture and eating it. We only had to wait ten minutes for it to set up, and the kids were checking them in the fridge every minute. It would have been torturous for them if they had to wait any longer!!

They each got to shake their gummies in the sour sugar mixture – which I was surprised that they both wanted. E doesn’t usually like things that are too sour, but he put a decent amount on his candies.

Both kids could hardly wait to try them out, and their first bite showed me just how good they were — complete silence (only punctured by the occasional “yum”) for about 5 minutes while they ate them all!! I can always tell when my kids like something because they focus on eating it so completely that there is no talking.

This was a great project for all of us — we all learned something new, and the kids got to enjoy a delicious treat at the end of it!

Check out Glee Gum on Facebook and on Twitter @GleeGuy

{I was provided with a complimentary product to review. All opinions are my own and 100% honest}