Housing a Forest - Learn, Create, Experiment
  • Home
  • About
  • Categories
  • Experiments
  • Kid Projects
  • Kid Art
Stay Connected With HOUSING A FOREST on...
  • pinterest
  • facebook
  • google plus
  • twitter
  • rss
  • blog lovin
June 13, 2013

Painting with Candy

I am so enjoying the Paint and Play series that I am doing with Crystal from Growing A Jeweled Rose.  The focus for our series is all about the process, having fun and getting kids excited to create art!  This week we challenged each other to find 3 fun ways to Paint with Candy.  This is one challenge that I couldn’t wait to do!  Growing A Jeweled Rose created art with Pop Rocks, Pixy Stix and Gumballs, while we pulled out our left over Halloween Candy and used Nerds, Laffy Taffy and Pull n Peel Licorice!

3 Fun Ways to Paint with Candy

Who can resist a good Candy Challenge?  Not my kids!  When I told them what we were going to be using to paint with, they squealed with excitement!  We still have a huge stash of Halloween candy lurking in the back of our cupboard so this was perfect.  I know, Halloween was months ago!  Somehow, my kids loose interest in actually eating it after the first few weeks.  Bizarre right?  Anyway, there it sits in our cupboard just waiting to become paint:)  Nothing like a stash of Nerds, Laffy Taffy and pull n peel Twizzlers to get the creative juices flowing:)  Read on to see what we came up with.

……………………………………………………………

Nerds Candy Paint

We had a bunch of mini boxes of Nerds in the back of our cupboard.  I have been meaning to make them into paint for a while.  I know that sounds a little weird, but trust me it was on my to-do list.  My kids don’t eat much candy, so we are always looking for fun and creative ideas to use up our stash.

Painting with Nerds Candy

To make our paint, we simply poured one mini box of Nerds into each glass.  I love that they come presorted by color, making this step so easy!  We then just covered them with water.  The more water you use, the lighter your paint will be.  The kids were the ones adding the water, so we were not too exact.  No need to be fussy, it all worked great!

Nerds Candy Paint

The Nerds will loose there outer coloring as the water dissolves it, and that will create your paint.  The kids were surprised to see that the Nerds were white in the middle and not colored all the way though.  We used our paint right away, so the white Nerds were still in the bottom of our paint.  However, if you leave them sit long enough, the whole Nerd will eventually dissolve.

Nerds Candy Paint

The kids loved this simple painting exercise.  We used the paint just like watercolors, and it worked great!

Nerds Candy Paint

The kids begged to taste their paint.  Ha!  According to them this was the best tasting paint that they have used.

Melted Laffy Taffy Art 

Next we moved onto making melted Laffy Taffy Art.  My kids were so excited to give this a go.

Drawing with Laffy Taffy

I used an knife to cut off part of the wrapper of our Laffy Taffy so that the kids fingers would not be totally sticky during the process.  Not a necessary step, but it worked well for us.  Then I warmed our baking stones in the oven, wrapped the stone in tin foil and set our paper right on top.  The same as we did for making Melted Crayon Art.

Drawing with Laffy Taffy

As you press the Laffy Taffy to the hot paper, it will melt leaving behind a trail of color.  Make sure to cautious when doing this with your kids.  The stone is hot and little fingers could get burned easily.

Drawing with Laffy Taffy

The sound and smell was wonderful.  The Taffy made little popping noises as the kids painted.  You can see a few of the bubbles on the paper where the kids got the taffy a little thicker.

Drawing with Laffy Taffy

As the kids Laffy Taffy art dried, it continued to pop and crack.  This was an added bonus to drawing with Laffy Taffy that we did not expect.  The finished project was shinny, and still smelled yummy.

Pull n Peel Twizzlers Stamps

For our last candy painting exercise, we created stamps with Pull n Peel Licorice.  What a fun and unique way to create a stamp.  (Credit for this creative idea needs to go to my hubby)

Pull n Peel Twizzlers Stamps

The kids pulled their licorice apart into little strands and then set to work creating their designs.  We used clear plastic stamp bases, and the licorice stuck right pretty easily.  The kids did apply pressure when they were creating the stamp, but I was surprised at how well the licorice stayed on.  No glue or anything else needed.

Pull n Peel Twizzlers Stamps

We used our Homemade Stamp Pad with our little licorice stamps and it worked great!

Pull n Peel Twizzlers Stamps

This was our favorite stamp that the kids created.  It was simple and beautiful!  I actually wish that the licorice was not such a temporary medium.  Oh well, we made lots of fun prints while we could:)

Pull n Peel Twizzlers Stamps

I found a few smaller acrylic stamp blocks as well.  It was fun seeing each of the prints the kids created.

Pull n Peel Stamps

I love how easy this project was to clean-up.  We just scraped everything into the garbage and gave the acrylic bases a quick wash with water.  Love that!

After this fun challenge, I am sure that I will never look at candy again the same!  The kids will have to guard their treats from me, or I will steal them for another creative project.

……………………………………………………………

I love what Growing A Jeweled Rose created this week!  Crystal is my go to girl for creative and messy ideas.  Check out all the amazing fun they had, I especially can’t wait to see what they did with Pop Rocks!  My kids had so much fun creating our candy art, that I know they will want to try Crystals fun techniques too.  We have more than enough Halloween candy left over to keep on painting:)

painting with candy

……………………………………………………………

Make sure you stop back in next week for more Play and Paint!

Play and Paint Series

Don’t miss out on any of our Paint and Play series:

Balloon Painting 5 Ways and Super Creative Balloon Painting

Homemade Spin Art Machine and A Spin on Spin Art

Tire Swing Pendulum Painting and Glowing Pendulum Painting 

 ……………………………………………………………

Check out this amazing list of 35+ Candy Experiments, Learning Activities, Crafts, Recipes and More from Mom to 2 posh Lil Divas!  More fun and exciting things you can do with candy!

If you love process art like us, then check out my Painting Without Brushes Pinterest board.  It is packed full of fun ideas.

Posted in Experiments, Food, Kid Art and tagged Candy, Concoctions, Fun Food, Kid Art, Paint and Play.

Welcome to Housing A Forest!
I would love for you to grab a cup of coffee and stay a while. You can read more about us or catch up on our favorite experiments, projects + art activities.

Related posts:

  1. Candy Potions
  2. Painting with Licorice
  3. Starburst Candy Sculptures
  4. Glowing Ice Painting
« « previous
next » »

3 thoughts on “Painting with Candy”

  1. Veens @ Our Ordinary Life on June 13, 2013 at 1:30 pm said:

    Wow! I love the last one! So creative 🙂 Pinning this.

    Reply ↓
  2. Tammy on June 13, 2013 at 2:22 pm said:

    Thanks Veens. That was our favorite too! Who knew that Pull n peel could look so great:)

    Reply ↓
  3. Kriss MacDonald on June 27, 2013 at 6:59 pm said:

    Now I know what to do with the sweets they get from parties or halloween! My kids don’t like most of them and I don’t buy them as they have corn syrup.

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay Connected
  • pinterest
  • facebook
  • google plus
  • twitter
  • rss
  • blog lovin

About Me

Search

Popular on Housing A Forest

Compass Painting ~ a fun and playful way to combine math and art! Who knew school supplies could be so fun!
Barbie Salon
Dancing Oobleck

This post may include affiliate links. You can read my full Disclosure Policy on the about me page.