candy canes

Yesterday I made candy canes with the art club. This was our second attempt. Last year I vowed to never do this project again. I was finding bits of hard candy on my floor well into February, and the sugar high the kids experienced was pretty ugly. But they talked me into it. I thought a year of maturity and a bit of experience might just get us through, but I was wrong. This year our candy cane making was equally crazed and the day ended with art club students being asked to take their dixie cups of candy cane scraps outside for a little winter fun.

Out of two batches of cane mix (7 cups of sugar and 4 cups of Karo syrup later) I think we made about seven candy canes and the rest was cracked up and snacked on and in bits on the floor. Yikes.

I have always been in favor of a little mess with your art, but next year I swear off the hard candy lesson for good. We all have our limits.

After we lost one whole batch of hard crack candy the students began to cheer with enthusiasm. "Now we can eat all the scraps," they cried with glee.