Happy Valentine's Day

I'm teaching my son some basic calligraphy. I've struggled since he started writing to get him to take his time and do a good job. I thought learning some calligraphy might help. He enjoys art so I called it "artistic writing."

He used his new skill to make valentines for his classmates.

Pretty good for a 10 year old who does not enjoy writing! I had him write this neatly one time then scanned it and printed 24 copies. We made Jolly Rancher lollipops and attached the note to the lollipop bag. He was very excited and proud to take his handmade treats to school today.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Jolly Rancher Lollipops

I'm not sure where this has come from, but my son has become very interested in making candy recently. He is 10 and asked for chocolate molds for Christmas! He received some chocolate molds as well as some lollipop molds, but we didn't need them for these.

I found several different instructions for these by googling "jolly rancher lollipops" but this is what we did.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Lay three jolly rancher candies right next to each other leaving plenty of room between the groups of three for the candies to melt and spread. You also need to leave enough space for the sticks so that they don't touch any of the other lollipops. Put them in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 6 minutes. Take them out and place a stick on top. Roll the stick so that it is completely covered in candy then let them cool.

We made 20 lollipops in less than an hour! I liked that it was fast so he didn't lose interest and leave me to finish. It also required very little prep or clean-up. He loved watching the candies melt and deciding which three candies to put together and in what order. Of course he also liked taste-testing.