Do your preschoolers use a ton of chapstick? Mine do! And I needed an alternative to help their cracking lips (gotta love winter weather) and something that I felt safe with them ingesting. I was inspired after reading about a friend who mixed shortening and a juice mix to create a yummy edible lip balm. We adapted it slightly. We like a “harder” solution – here’s what we made, and my kids love it!
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What you will need make your own edible lip balm:
- 1/2 a cup of vegetable shortening
- 1 teaspoon of Jello Mix – we used cherry.
- 3 Vitamin E Capsules
- Some plain wax shavings
- Small containers – we recycled used containers of party-sized playdough.
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How we made our own chapstick:
Melt the shortening in a saucepan. Add the vitamin E capsules and the wax shavings. If you like your chapstick to be soft you can skip this step. We used a little less than a teaspoon of shavings and it made the lip balm a nice consistency (we think). As the fats are melted add the jello crystals. Stir till mostly dissolved. The jello adds a nice scent. If you want more coloring to your balm you can add more crystals (or use colored wax instead of plain). Pour your balm into your containers. Place in the fridge to set – after about 15 to 20 min your lip balm should be ready for you to enjoy!
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For similar posts, check out our list of Favorite Non-Food Kid Recipes! We have recipes for goop, playdough, finger paint, and more!
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About Rachel
GREAT idea – thanks for sharing. Did you squeeze the vitamin E out of the capsules? and where did you get plain wax?
Jessica
jessica.adopts@gmail.com
please tell me what plain wax is. it seems like i should know this
.-= pam´s last blog ..give aways =-.
Jess and Pam, Thanks for the questions. I got the plain wax from a craft supply store, in the candle-making section. I had a block leftover from when we made candles. The store also had beeswax which sounds even better in lip balm, but I used plain wax as that’s what I had on hand. In regards to the vit E. I dumped the capsules into the melted oil. I tried taking pictures, but as my sauce pan is black it just looked like, wel, a black pan filled with water. Sorry. Hope those helped clarify
Enjoy making your own lip balm!
Kids should NOT eat wax!! It is a petroleum based product and is not safe for consumption. Please invest in beeswax, or carnuba wax if you are vegan.
Great kid activity!!!
.-= Candi @ Family Stamping and FOOD!´s last blog ..Shopping Trip: Publix 3/5/10 =-.
What a great idea!
.-= Mama Zen´s last blog ..Sunday Funk =-.
did your jello dissolve well, mine seemed to stay in the bottom of the pan, it is in the fridge now
.-= pam´s last blog ..French Breakfast puffs-tempt my tummy =-.
Pam, I should have said something about that. Mine partially dissolved, but there were still some particles – you can see them in the image if you look close enough. I tried using a dried juice mix with the first batch and that just solidified, and in my second batch I tried concentrate juice and it didn’t meld with the oil (just floated on the top). In comparison the Jello was a smashing success, but if you think of something better let me know! I’d love to hear how yours turns out!
I love it! Great idea
That is just GENIUS!!! I love it- and I bet the kids totally want to wear it…it has Jello in it:)
Thanks! This will be our next rainy day activity.
What does the Jell-o do exactly? Is it essential in the mix?