Healthy Edible "Candy" Bracelets

Make Your Own Healthy Edible Candy Bracelets!

A healthy, fun craft for kids!

Spring break is here! I remember my idyllic spring break days fondly. Since it was always raining, my afternoons were spent colouring, reading, staging fantastically melodramatic movies starring Barbie and her crew — it was a time of imagination and creativity. When imagination wore thin, Mom would break out some arts & crafts project that would occupy bored minds for a short time. Eventually, bored kids would drive our Mom to give up and we would embark upon a rare outing to the corner store, meagre allowances in hand. How exciting that was! My sister and I would chatter excitedly about what we would get — Mike & Ike’s, Bottle Caps, Pixy Stix, and Lik-m-aid Fun Dip were usually on our list. But the one we would ALWAYS run for first, was the Candy Necklace.

To this day, I can still see myself unwrapping the necklace from its crinkly cellophane package and jamming the necklace over my head. Usually hair got caught in-between the candies, but I didn’t care. I always tried to make it last forever. I would then go about my day with an elastic cord hanging out of my mouth, pink stains on my lips, until the necklace was gone. Later came other candy jewelry — bracelets and rings. 

There are endless patterns to create – and better for you than candy!

Candy jewelry is so much fun, but can you imagine how much sugar and food colouring they contain? With people cutting back on sugar and artificial everything these days, why not try a healthy, natural alternative? These Healthy Candy Bracelets are fun to make, and healthy, too! You need very few ingredients and tools. Smaller children may need assistance getting the needle through some of the tougher fruit, or help with scissors, but the delicious result will be worth it!

Healthy Edible Candy BraceletsTools required:
- Elastic thread
- Large needle with rounded tip
- Scissors

Ingredients
Various dried fruit, such as Craisins, papaya, apples, raisins, etc.
Cheerios or your favourite O-shaped cereal
Optional: yogurt covered dried berries

Method

1. Measure around the wrist with the elastic cord, leaving about an inch more on each end.
2. Thread the elastic cord through the needle.
3. One at a time, push the needle through a piece of fruit, or through a Cheerio.
4. Repeat, making fun patterns!
5. When done, tie elastic cord ends together in a knot, trimming off excess.
6. Wear and eat!

This article was originally published on the Stimuli Magazine blog.