My kids and I recently had the chance to try two Glee Gum Kits: Make Your Own Chewing Gum and Make Your Own Gummies. (Their Make Your Own Chocolate Kit contains milk.)
These kits are a lot of fun and a great educational activity on rainy days (with a snack reward!), but they are best-suited for older children (recommended for ages 8+) to try with the assistance of an adult. Most of the steps were for children with some cooking experience and a knowledge of kitchen safety. I’ve included notes and photos from our experiments below!
Glee Gum Kits have had a packaging update. This photo shows what they currently look like, but the contents and what they make are still the same.
Glee Gum Kits let you Make Your Own Gum and Gummies!
Each of the Glee Gum Candy Kits comes with an informational sheet about the natural resources used to make the products and the people who harvest the resources. On the Glee Gum website, additional information is provided for teachers who want to use the candy kits as an educational resource. I think this is a great idea, especially for an older elementary or middle school class.
Make Your Own Chewing Gum Kit
This Glee Gum Kit requires you to melt chicle made from the sap of the Sapodilla tree in the provided microwave-safe bowl. This gets very hot and sticks to everything it touches. The directions recommend removing the chicle from anything it sticks on with butter, not margarine. I used peanut butter instead with some success. I don’t know what a dairy- and nut-free option might be. Coconut oil maybe? Commercial solvents can also be used.
You then mix in heated corn syrup and knead the gum on a surface coated with powdered sugar. After dividing the gum in two, cherry and peppermint flavorings are added and kneaded in and then you cut the gum into bite-sized pieces.
The gum tastes like chewing gum used to taste before synthetic ingredients widely replaced chicle. One of my children doesn’t care for gum but liked the taste of this! The other children enjoyed it, too.
Make Your Own Gummies Kit
This Glee Gum Kit uses two kinds of seaweeds, one of which is boiled to release the
carrageenan, which my kids thought was cool. They asked me to save the seaweed to show their dad when he got home. The additional seaweed is powdered. The carrageenan and powdered seaweed are mixed with a flavored, colored powder and cooked.
The mixture can be poured into the included molded powder, but since we had candy molds (and a three-year old helper) we used those instead. One neat thing we learned is that if the liquid gels too quickly it can be reheated and poured again.
Once the gummies firm up, you can toss them in a sweet and sour coating. We tried the gummies plain and found them to be very sweet, so we preferred them with the coating.
Overall, the Glee Gum Candy Kits were a big hit in our house. We learned a lot and had so much fun making our own treats! Now, if only they would make the Make Your Own Chocolate kit dairy-free, too!
More Facts on Glee Gum Make Your Own Kits
Price: $13.95 per kit; $6.95 per chewing gum refill
Availability: Glee Gum Kits are primarily sold online. You can order them from the company’s website below.
Certifications: We didn’t notice any certifications on Glee Gum Kits.
Dietary Notes: By ingredients, the Glee Gum Kits are dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, vegan, and vegetarian.*
For More Product Information: Visit the Glee Gum website at www.gleegum.com.
*Always read the ingredient and nutrition statement prior to consumption. Ingredients, processes, and labeling are subject to change at any time for any company or product. Contact the company to discuss their manufacturing processes if potential allergen cross-contamination is an issue for you. No food product can be guaranteed “safe” for every individual’s needs. You should never rely on ingredient and allergen statements alone if dealing with a severe food allergy.
Great activity for kids
These kits are a unique and fun educational activity for kids and teens. Eco-friendly and vegan, they include information on the ingredients and natural resources used to make these all-natural treats. And even my gum-hating child loved the tasty results!
