You want to know one of the things that gets me really excited? Well, besides chocolate,shoes, tropical vacations, Christmas presents, fall tv, and new furniture? School supplies. I actually love the whole “season” of back-to-school. Maybe it’s just the fresh new start it signifies as summer comes to an end, but I think it’s more of the justifiable right to purchase new outfits, pencils, bags, calculators, notebooks, markers and binders. Even when I was in college I’d go out every fall and prance through the school supply section at Target trying to contain my excitement of picking out new pens. For real. This year is a special one because my oldest kiddo is starting school! We’re heading off to meet his teacher this afternoon and then I’ll be the crazy lady snapping photos as the bus drives off tomorrow. Wish me luck.
I stumbled across these darling crayon snacks at Gourmet Mom on the Go a whole year ago and I was dying to make them- immediately! When my soon-to-be-kindergartener started preschool last year we were assigned our first class snack for the letter C and I ran out right that second to buy supplies for these. I don’t know who was more excited, me or the kid. They were a BIG hit with the kids in his his class and his teacher too! These would be super cute pass out to friends, or to a new teacher, or for a fun family activity to celebrate the new school year.
You can do whatever color crayons you want- you just need coordinating paper and candy melts. You can buy candy melts at craft stores that carry baking supplies (like Michaels and Hobby Lobby) or kitchen supply stores like Orson Gygi in SLC. And if all else fails, you can always order them on Amazon or at many other on-line cooking supply stores (seriously, check out the stash at Gygi’s!) I usually just buy the little bags at Michaels and they last quite a while if you store them well after.
If you’re not familiar with candy melts, they’re similar to almond bark, or white chocolate, just in little colored pieces. They melt easily in the microwave and then you dip things in them, or fill candy molds with them, or all kinds of other things. For this project you really just need a little bit of each color since you’ll only be dipping the ends of your pretzels.
You’ll want the large pretzel rods. You do need to break them in half, but make sure you check out the bag before you buy because some brands are shattered before you even bring them home. I’ve found Rolled Gold are pretty good. I found it helpful to lightly score the pretzels with a serrated knife in the middle and then they just snap clean when you break them.
Just place a few candy melts in separate bowls and follow the directions on the package to melt them.
It helps to have all of your pretzels already ready to go before you start dipping because the candy melts will start to harden.
You only need to dip the ends of the pretzels so just quickly dip and let the excess shake off and then dip the other side. If your candy starts to get hard, just warm it a little more.
Do all of your colors and let them dry completely.
While they are drying you can prepare your labels. When I made these for my son’s preschool class it was alphabet themed and we were responsible for the letter “C” so I made labels that said, “C is for Crayon!” You can download those labels here, or play around and make your own! Mandy from Gourmet Mom on the Go has tons of custom labels she’s made up for people, so check out this page. There’s even BYU labels on there (Rise and Shout!).
Cut the labels and wrap them around the crayons and secure with a piece of tape. Don’t even worry if your dipping isn’t perfect or your labels are cut crooked or whatever. When these little babies are all lined up they’re cute no matter what!
And just because I know some of you are thinking this…I have never had a problem with anyone confusing them with real crayons 🙂 Preschool and older are smart enough to know the difference (if your preschooler is still eating real crayons then you have bigger issues on your hands!), and little little kids aren’t going to think that a pretzel with something sweet on each end (because you would obviously take the paper off first) looks anything like a crayon!
I totally loved these, and I smiled when I watched my son’s end-of-preschool slide show last spring and saw pics of all the kids holding their crayons. So fun! I hope everyone else is having fun gearing up for the start of a new school year. Go buy some new pens! (And glue, and markers, and a hole punch, and a coordinating notebook, and some boots to match, and then a bag to match that, and well, you know…)
Questions & Reviews
My goodness, and how adorable these are! In a craft store looking at the baking tools I noticed there were so many colors of candy melts adorable, and I recently found a crayon cake craft on Michael’s site. Put the two together and that’s the start of a fun party. Thanks so much for the idea, wish I had had this when I was teaching!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe and your printable! I shared this on my blog today for Teacher Appreciation Day as my sons and I made these for their teachers. I linked up to your post and your printable as well. Thank you again this is SUCH a cute and easy idea.
*One thing I did that worked really well was used a travel-sized bar soap container to put them in as a “crayon box” for a gift for the teachers; less than a dollar each and super cute!
http://www.cheeriosandlattes.com/edible-crayons/
Oh my gosh. These are ridiculously adorable. I’m going to be a teacher and my student teaching starts in August, I really hope I get assigned a young grade so I can make these treats for the kiddos!
I’m sorry, the text isn’t editable, you’ll have to create your own if you want to do that.
HELP! I downloaded this to my computer. How can I change it to say something different? For instance, I want it to say C is for Carter? Thanks!
AMAZING!!! SO COOL! i want to eat those!
SO CuTE
those are so fun!
So, question for you, Sara: are candy melts actually chocolate? I want to make these for my roommate, but she CANNOT have chocolate (I know, it’s sad). Almond Bark is okay, but real chocolate is a no-no.
Leigha, as far as I know there is no real chocolate in candy melts. Mostly just sugar 🙂
Awesome!!!! Thanks! I can’t wait to make these!!
I made these twice over the last week. Once for my 3 year olds Montessori class and once for my 5 year old kindergarten class. The kids and teachers LOVED them. The kindergardeners were especially thankful. They each said thank you a half a dozen times and kept telling me how good they are, many of their parents mentioned how much their kids loved them on facebook that night. Thanks for such an amazing back to school idea!!!!
so cute! i think i might make these for my nephews or convince my sister to!
I made these for my daughter’s birthday snack for pre-K. They were so great, but I did learn one BIG thing… almond bark does not mix well with regular food coloring! I did not find the candy melts that were called for, so I melted almond bark and put regular food coloring in it. It transformed from melting chocolate to colored, clumped up goo! I read that it only mixes with powdered and paste food coloring. I had the latter, so it worked out fine… but a good lesson learned. Oil (a main ingredient in almond bark) and water (a main ingredient in cheap food coloring) don’t mix. My chemistry teacher was right! 🙂
This is a fantastic idea!! I’m going to make them for my daughters kindergarten class. It’s her birthday next week and this would be perfect!! Thanks for the great idea.
Absolutely darling idea. And I’m just like you – back to school time is like Christmas to me. And I am a teacher, so I get to be right in the middle of it. This is such a fun project! Thanks for sharing.
These are the cutest things ever. I’m going to make them for party favors for my daughter’s first birthday this weekend. So fun!
I just shared this on FB – Hey do you two want to share something on my blog during our Family Proclamation Sept 9-23rd? Let me know! – Jocelyn (beinglds.blogspot.com)
Ooh, that’s just too adorable! Thanks, Sara!
Thank you so much for the time you put into your blog. I enjoy it so much! I loved this idea and have made them for my new kindergarten Sunday School class. They turned out really cute! Last year I made your turkey cupcakes and they were a hit also. I love coming to your blog for new and exciting recipes.
this looks so good for back to school
I made these 2 days ago to give to some of my favorite back-to-schoolers and they were a big hit! A few suggestions: easier to use the thin, colored computer paper, than cardstock. The cardstock was hard to fold and secure with tape-but that’s all craft stores around here sell anymore! And if the chocolate is too warm it takes a long time to harden and when laid on the waxed paper it spreads! I liked my chocolate BARELY warm. I made almost 100 of them and it took me about 2.5 hours start to finish. This was a fabulous idea I will do again!!
These are the cutest things! For my Ava’s princess party I used the jumbo pretzels – dipped 80% into melted white chocolate then rolled onto a pl;ate of sprinkles (multi colored Jimmies) and tied a little bow at the base of each one… then passed them out as magic wands for all the little princesses! This was so easy and the girls loved them.
Sorry, ‘couldn’t’ and ‘definitely’…It is DEFINITELY time to recharge. I no longer trust my ability to spell! 🙂
These are awesome! So, I went to look at the labels and couln’t figure out why none of them were colored. I was confused for a good 5 minutes before I realized duh, colored paper… Yeah, it’s definetly bed time!
These are adorable! Thank you for sharing. There is a poem that I came across to be used with M&Ms as a gift for teacher appreciation, but it would also work perfectly with a box of edible crayons. There are many websites where you can download a template for a crayon box too! Here is the part of the poem that would work:
Green is for the inspiration you give me each day.
Blue is for your patience in showing me the way.
Orange is for your warmth and caring style.
Yellow is for the way you always make me smile.
Red is for my life, that you have touched this year.
Really cute poem!
What a great idea!!! And thanks for the mention. We think you guys are pretty awesome!!!
Love this idea! My son is in preschool this year so I will be making these for his 1st party 🙂
These are super cute…but I would NOT recommend making them for a classroom with nut-allergic children in it. The Wilton’s melts are processed in a plant with nuts, and therefore off-limits for anyone with a serious nut allergy (darn it all.) However, I am curious as to how those of you have done it with Starburst, since those are not nut-contaminated.
These are beyond fabulous & FUN. My kids would go nuts to find these in their lunch boxes 🙂
This is the neatest thing and so simple! I love it!
I absolutely LOVE this idea! I definitely want to make this sometime, but my daughter’s school does not allow homemade treats for the class, so it would have to be just for my kids, and maybe some friends. Very cute idea though.