Edible Stained Glass Candy Craft for Kids (STEAM Activity)

This edible stained glass candy STEAM activity does a great job of integrating multiple disciplines while giving kids a fun snack!

If your kids are interested in STEM activities, then they are in for a treat with this one. This edible stained glass candy STEAM activity is fun for kids and adults alike! Your kids will get to engage in the art side of STEAM, along with a little bit of science and math, all while having a jolly good time.

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And you can do it all with very few ingredients needed!

This stained glass craft for kids requires an understanding of geometry. Your little ones will either make hard candy from scratch or melt store-bought hard candies. They will then use these candies to decorate a pre-determined design that ends in a beautiful and delicious work of art.

We do highly recommend adult supervision for this project.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Scientific Method Worksheets – Free Download

Before you move on, we’ve got some free scientific method worksheets for you to download and enjoy. These printable worksheets are useful for any science experiment, science project, STEM challenge, or STEM projects your students might be engaging in.

Turn every science project and STEAM activity into a thought-provoking STEM challenge. Plus give left brain and right brain kiddos alike a chance to utilize their strengths and improve their weaknesses. Get yours now!

How to Make Your Edible Stained Glass Candy

Let’s take a look at the tutorial for this fun STEAM activity!

There are two methods for making this edible stained glass craft for kids.

The first is by making your own hard candy cooking corn syrup, sugar, and water until a candy thermometer says it’s reached the proper temperature. Add your flavoring and food coloring and carefully pour your very hot mixture into your template and you’ve got an edible stained glass window.

The second method involves taking a store-bought hard candy, in our case jolly ranchers, and melting it down until it reaches a liquid state, at which point you can pour it into your template.

Ingredients Needed

• Hard candy in liquid form (either homemade from corn syrup, sugar, and water or store-bought such as jolly ranchers. Instructions for melting jolly ranchers will be further down this article.)
• Egg whites from 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• Pretzel sticks and rods as desired

Tools Needed

• (If using homemade rock candy) pot, candy thermometer, spoon, and stove top
• (If using store-bought candies) hard candies (such as jolly ranchers), microwave-safe bowls, spoons
• Mixer
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Aluminum foil
• Heat-safe surface
• Piping bag

Preparing Your Stained Glass

Before you get started on your edible stained glass project, be sure to go over heat safety with your kids as you will be using ingredients that are incredibly hot.

Give each child a surface that is covered with aluminum foil. This could be a plate or a piece of cardboard. Using their pretzel rods and sticks, have your kids shape out a picture or image on their aluminum foil. Be sure they also map out a frame for their picture.

Older kids can free form this part or younger kids can follow the lines of a printed out coloring page that you find online.

Note – it is best if all lines in your picture connect to an edge (the frame) in some way.

Steps For Making Your Edible Stained Glass Art

First, you are going to want to make your royal icing. The ingredients are in the ingredient list above.

1. Combine egg whites, vanilla, and cream of tartar in a bowl. Mix until frothy.
2. Add powdered sugar in small doses, repeating until you have added all of it. Mix until glossy and peaks begin to form. (This will take about 5 minutes.)
3. Place icing in a piping bag

4. Take your already-made template (made from pretzels) and glue each pretzel stick down using your icing. Do your best to close all gaps so your melted candy doesn’t leak through.
5. If using jolly ranchers, place still-hard jolly ranchers in each gap in your picture until every space is filled. This is how you calculate how many candies of each color you will need.

Melting Your Jolly Ranchers

1. Take all your like-colored jolly ranchers (that you mapped out in step 5) and place them in a microwave-safe bowl. (You might add a few extras just in case.)
2. Place in microwave and cook at 50% power for no more than 2 minutes at a time.
3. Mix and melt until you have reached ‘molten glass’ consistency.
4. Spoon into appropriate spaces on your templates. If you have several templates, don’t try to do too many at once as the candy will begin to harden before you are done.
5. You may remelt your candy if you need to but keep in mind if your candy is too thin (less volume) you will need to microwave in 30-second intervals instead to avoid burning.
6. Repeat until all colors have been done and each template is complete.

If everything was done properly, once it has hardened, you should be able to pick up your project and shine a light through it. Congratulations, you have some awesome edible sugar glass to enjoy with your kids now!

What Can Be Learned from Stained Glass Craft for Kids?

What can be learned from an edible stained glass STEAM activity? The answer is plenty!

For one, this stained glass craft for kids is all about geometry. Geometry is something that is used in our everyday life, even if we don’t think about it.

How much space is in that grocery cart or trunk of your car? Geometry. How are the buildings we live in made of different shapes and why? Geometry.

Want to make fashion your passion? Need to know how much paint you need? Landscape design or gardening?

Apartment or house hunting for the right sized home? Building a fence for your yard? Want a pool to play in? Will your car fit in a garage or a drive-through? Baking a cake?

Geometry. All of these activities and more require an understanding of geometry. Geometry. The better you are at it the easier your life will be. So learn geometry.

There is of course the opportunity to study art history and the use of stained glass throughout time, as well as the opportunity to research and learn how real stained glass is made. (It’s a fascinating process). Exploring stained glass art for kids is always a good time.

You could also very easily bring some chemistry into the mix.

Want to make your own homemade hard candy instead of just melting Jolly Ranchers? You’ll need an understanding of chemistry for that! In fact, you could dive into a whole lesson on chemistry and how different elements work together, especially when they’re heated/cooled.

If you like the idea of learning from stained glass but don’t want to mess with hot, melted candy, my friend Sara has directions for making a paper craft stained glass project. This one is Easter-themed but you could use this project for any theme.

STEM Resources Delivered to Your Inbox Every Month

If you liked this edible STEM activity, you are going to love the STEM Made Easy Digital Subscription. Each month, you’ll receive 5 fully-planned STEM project guides along with worksheets and instructions for how to make them fun and engaging for kids ages 3-19. Check it out now!

More STEAM Activities You Might Like

• Edible Science Experiments
• STEAM Activities for Elementary Kids
• STEAM Art Projects

Have any questions about this easy edible glass recipe? Share your questions and thoughts by leaving a comment below!