I'm sure you can find this tip elsewhere, but since Valentine's Day is nearly upon us and I just saw really $$$ red sugar sprinkles at the store- I thought I'd share.

To make your own sugar sprinkles take white sugar and place it in a bowl that can be sealed with a lid.  I use the little Gladware style disposable plastic containers.  If you don't have sealable bowls, you can use a Ziplock bag, but the bowls work better.  Then add two or three drops of liquid food coloring.  You can use just one color or mix them to make the secondary colors.   Then, seal up the bowl and let your kids start shaking. 

While you are doing this, discuss "mixtures" .  So lets see, now you've got art, science and sugar!  Your kids will love you.

Ok, so now the kids have observed what happens when you add two separate substances into a mixture.  I would propose that when you have added the liquid color to the sugar and combined, you now have a compound.  It can be separated, but only by difficult means.  Now, on the other hand, if you color the sugar first, for instance if you make red and yellow sugar, and then combine them you get a mixture that can be easily separated.  (Ok, relatively speaking- you can pick out each sugar crystal if you really try.)  Have I got that right?  I noticed when we made sugar sprinkles that the red and yellow combined did look orange a first glance, but upon closer inspection you could see the two distinct colors.  Combining the red and yellow liquid drops first and then adding them to the sugar resulted in a solid orange color with no variations.  I know there's a concept there somewhere that's really cool. LOL!

So, where was I.  Oh yeah, you've shaken your sugar and watched the magic transformation of white into color.  Now, put your sugar into a storage baggie.  You can use it right away, but it sprinkles easier if you wait a day or two and let it dry out a bit.  I use the storage baggies because I have a limited number of little plastic bowls and once I've done one color and stored it, I can wipe out my bowl and make a new color.  My children really enjoyed this lesson in color blending (for obvious reasons).

Now I know some of you don't use artificial food coloring.  But, I bet this same experiment would work with fruit juices.  You could get a red from cranberry or strawberries, blue from blueberries or blackberries and yellow- hmm... crushed lemon peels perhaps or lemon juice might produce a very light yellow.  I'm sure you'll think of something. 

If you don't use sugar or food coloring, you're on your own.  I had a little one who at one point I thought would never eat solid foods.  He spent nearly two years on really nasty formula and two more learning to eat a limited number of "safe" foods.  So I'm all about enjoying any food that God allows him to survive eating.   But I do understand, we all have different things we have to avoid.  Maybe you could make colored sand and then use it for a sand art project?