Giveaway: Make Your Own Gummies From Scratch! (Extended to Jan. 8th)

This giveaway has been extended until Jan. 8, 2011 to give those of you who were away for the Holidays a chance to enter :)
My 2 oldest boys are at ages where they love to do basic science experiments:  acid/base reactions, exploring color changes, making prisms and soft crystals, studying evaporation/condensation, etc...So, when given the opportunity to make our very own gummy candies from scratch using all-natural ingredients, I jumped at the chance. 

Glee Gum is an all-natural, gluten, dairy, soy, and nut-free chewing gum that is made without preservatives, artificial colors, artificial flavors, or artificial sweeteners.  It's made right here in the U.S. using an old fashioned process with chicle.  In addition to their natural chewing gum, the makers of Glee Gum have expanded their product line to include 3 child-friendly Glee Kits:  Make Your Own Chewing Gum, Make Your Own Gummy Candy, and Make Your Own Chocolate. 

The boys decided to try the Make Your Own Gummy Candy Kit, in part because of their fondness for Gummy Bears (TM), and in part because they were curious about the notion of using seaweed to make candy!  This particular kit uses the natural gelling ingredients of carrageenan and agar found in seaweed, rather than gelatin.  The seaweed provided comes in two forms, powdered and a dried/sterilized piece of seaweed that is soaked in water to extract the gelling agents.  The kit comes with an informative story about the world's oceans and the people living in coastal communities who grow and process seaweed.

We decided to use (well cleaned) household drinking straws to make "gummy worm" molds in our vegetable (molding) starch.  After extracting the gelling components from the dried seaweed, we combined everything as instructed and watched the transformation of our liquid mixture into yummy gummies.  The boys though it was "cool" that seaweed could be used for something other than squishing between your toes at the beach and thought it was even more "awesome" that they were able to eat the results of their science experiment :)  The directions were very easy to follow and I thought it was the perfect kit for kids in the 5-8yr. age range (I'm sure older kids would find it interesting as well, but in terms of level of difficulty, it is more fitting for the young primary school age range).  The texture of the gummies was not as chewy as traditional store bought candies and the sugar content is still quite high (as expected), but I liked knowing that the sweet treats they were eating were made from natural ingredients with which I am familiar and can pronounce!  The boys gave them a thumbs up for taste and they didn't seem to mind the texture, though they did say they were a little more "squishy" than "gummy".  Overall, I think this kit provided a wonderful learning experience and allowed the boys to see an amazing transformation using ingredients available to us in nature.

Buy Your Own:  Glee Gum and the series of "Make Your Own" Kits can be purchased HERE for $10-13, depending on your selection.  There are also a number of accessories, such Glee Gum Dispensers and clothing.

Win It:  The makers of Glee Gum have generously offered to give one Bullfrogs & Butterflies Baby reader a "Make Your Own" Kit of your choice!  Choose from the Chewing Gum Kit, Gummy Candy Kit, or Chocolate Kit.

To Enter:  Simply stop by Glee Gum and take a look around.  Then, come back here and tell me which kit you would love to try.

For extra entries, do any or all of the following and leave a comment letting me know for each. Make sure to leave your email address if not visible in your profile so I can let you know if you win:

1. Follow my blog with google friend connect
2. Follow me on Twitter and leave me your twitter id
3. Tweet about this giveaway mentioning @ElliaCNaturals and leave the link (once per day)
4. Like Ellia C. Naturals on Facebook (our all-natural bath & body shop) and leave your FB id
4. Blog about this giveaway or post it on your sidebar
5. Grab my button and place it on your blog

Giveaway ends December 31st January 8, 2011. Open to U.S. residents. Winner selected by www.random.org. Winner will have 72 hrs. to respond to email notification or alternate winner will be selected.

Disclosure:  I was provided with a Make Your Own Gummy Candy Kit for the purposes of this review.  The opinions expressed here are solely my own and based on my personal experience with this product.  I did not receive any monetary compensation for this review.