Things You'll Need
Instructions
Put ½ cup of water into a pan. Put two drops of food coloring into the water and give it a quick stir using a spoon. Let the 5th grade students choose different colors, if they're making several crystal lollipops.
Sprinkle 1 cup of sugar slowly into the colored water while stirring using a spoon. Stop sprinkling the sugar into the pan once the sugar stops dissolving. The sugar stops dissolving once the saturation point of the cold water is reached.
Put the pan on a stove and turn on to medium heat. Sprinkle the remaining cup of sugar into the pan and then stir the mixture so all the sugar dissolves.
Turn the heat to medium-high and let the mixture start to boil. Let the mixture boil for one minute.
Turn off the heat after one minute and remove the pan from the stove. Immediately pour equal amounts of the mixture into small cups.
Put a lollipop stick into the center of each cup. Hold it for a couple of seconds so the mixture starts to solidify slightly, just enough so the stick doesn't fall over. Put plastic film over the cup and the stick. Leave a gap for air to circulate. Leave the lollipops to cool completely for several hours; overnight is best.
Remove the plastic film, once the mixture has set and is completely cool. Hold the cup in one hand and lift out the lollipop from the cup using the other hand. Look at the lollipop. It has totally crystallized. This is because the water has evaporated and left behind the sugar crystals.