Grow Your Own Candy Canes

Did you know you can grow your own candy canes at home?

We just tried it ourselves.

See? Homemade candy canes!...

Wanna know how we did it?

All you need are some magic candy cane seeds, fresh snow, and some fun-loving children.

(Note: There are various renditions of this that you can find on-line. Today's post is just our version of it.)

First things first...

I read a book about candy canes to my children before we planted our seeds.

(Homeschool moms tend to think that all activities should begin with a corresponding read-aloud, haha!)

After our reading I presented the kids with the seeds...

I told them that these were magic candy cane seeds that I special ordered. 

We bundled up and went outside to plant them.

Candy canes grow wild at the North Pole, you know. So they need to be planted in snow.

We sprinkled the seeds in plastic planters that were about 3/4 filled with snow...

Then packed more snow over the top to cover the seeds.

We decided to place our planters on our side porch, so that we could check on them everyday and watch them grow.

I reminded the kids to be patient! It takes time for seeds to spout and grow!

After a few days (and with a little behind-the-scenes help from Mom) we noticed they were growing!

This is exciting stuff!

But we still must be patient.

They are not ready to eat yet.

We waited a few more days... (Translation- Mama forgot. Whoops!) and Nola reminded everyone this morning at breakfast that we should check on our candy canes.

I played it off real cool, but when they weren't suspecting I announced that I needed to run out and "grab the mail."

After a few minutes I came back inside and shouted, "Kids! You should see your candy canes!"

(Nola's face here cracks me up... I thought she had really fallen for it.)

They were thrilled to see how they had grown!

Elsa wonders... How in the world?! Haha...

It seems that I cannot manage to peel those teeny skin-tight wrappers off of candy canes without snapping their little curved heads off. *eye roll. So I just told the kids that since they are homemade, they are not going to look as perfect as the store bought ones.

They didn't seem to care. They were enjoying a delicious candy cane snack.

Candy canes dipped in fresh snow? Why not!

All gone. That was fun!

Later on Roman and Nola both told me that they knew how I did that.

I guess they weren't fooled.

Bummer.

(Maybe they were too old. Or maybe that's what I get for teaching my kids to be critical thinkers. Haha...)

Anyway, it was fun for the younger kids.

They asked to do it again!

But I don't know... That was a lot of sneaky work out in the frigid cold for the poor candy cane fairy. I don't think I'll ask her to do it again so soon. *wink

I'm sure she'd love to visit your house and grow candy canes with you!

Now you know what to do...

xo,

~ Courtney ~