Back-to-School Gifts for Teachers or Kids (Candy Pencils)

by Christy on August 23, 2011

I made some Back-to-School gifts for a group of girls at church.  These are made with a roll of Rolo’s Candy and made to look like a pencil.  They turned out super cute and are very easy to make!  I got the inspiration to make these from Simple J Studio, where she made these as Valentine’s for teachers.

What you will need:

  • Rolo’s
  • Hershey Hugs (or Kisses)
  • Yellow and Pink Cardstock
  • Foil
  • Glue Dots
  • Ribbon or String
  • Craft Scissors w/ Pinking Edge (optional)

Pull the Hershey’s label out of the Hug, and use the Glue Dots to attach the Hershey’s Hug to one of the ends of the Rolo. If you aren’t familiar with Glue Dots, they are the best things EVER!!  Everybody needs a box or two or three in their house.  I usually pick them up at Michael’s with a 40% off coupon.

Cut about a 1″ thick pink strip to add to the top of the Rolo to resemble an eraser.  I cut a circle and attached it to the top to finish it off.

Next cut a piece of yellow cardstock to wrap around the Rolo’s.  Fold it about an quarter of an inch over and over to create the crease marks for the pencil, and then attach it to the Rolo’s

Cut a thin piece of foil to cover the part where the yellow and pink overlap, this works as the metal portion of the pencil. Lastly, you can attach a note to the finished product with a ribbon or string. You are done!

Optional: You can cut one end of the yellow cardstock with pinking scissors so it has more of that sharpened pencil look.

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{ 39 comments… read them below or add one }

Laura August 23, 2011 at 9:34 am

OMG– that is ADORABLE!! I am totally doing this next year when my son starts school! In fact… maybe we’ll do it this year for his pre-K “day care” teachers for next week. So cute!

shelley August 23, 2011 at 9:38 am

TOO CUTE

Barbie August 23, 2011 at 10:00 am

Very cute! And delish, who doesn’t love Rolos? lol

Dawn Sposato August 23, 2011 at 10:02 am

Very cute idea, thanks for sharing! :)

angie August 23, 2011 at 10:05 am

SOOO CUTE! We were just thinking what to give to my dd new teacher when we meet ther on the 1of sept . this will be awesome to give!

Lola August 23, 2011 at 10:40 am

I made these for end of the year teacher gifts last year with a gift card attached. They were a big hit. Glue dots would have been a lot better! I think all I had was scotch tape on hand at the time.

Tiffany August 23, 2011 at 1:51 pm

So cute! Thank u for sharing, will totally be using this :-)

Holly August 23, 2011 at 2:15 pm

LOVE this idea…so cute!

Inten August 23, 2011 at 2:17 pm

Adorable! Saving this idea for sure…!!!

Intentionally Katie August 23, 2011 at 2:18 pm

Adorable! Saving this idea for sure…!!!

Mrs. Studer August 23, 2011 at 2:37 pm

As a teacher, I would love to recieve these! We get so many “cute” things, but end up throwing away most of the “cute” gifts. We can only use so many #1 teacher cups and notepads.

Abbie August 23, 2011 at 2:57 pm

I think we’re going to be doing this for Valentines day, just change the message.♥

Stacy August 23, 2011 at 4:31 pm

Too Cute!

Tara August 23, 2011 at 8:45 pm

I just made 40 of these as back to school gift for my Sunday School class. They are going to love them! Thanks for the idea.

Paula August 24, 2011 at 6:01 am

That is so cute I think we will make them and give them to the teachers at the back to school bash they have. Thanks for the wonderful Idea

Karen A. August 24, 2011 at 7:13 am

Thank you for this great idea! I absolutely love it! What would I do without this great blog?!

Pam August 24, 2011 at 7:47 am

I love these! I am going to make some for my daughter’s teachers this week! Thanks for sharing.

Sunny August 25, 2011 at 10:54 am

We made these last night, and it was really easy and fun. We don’t have rolos at our Walmart so we used glue dots and put together lifesaver mints to wrap up as the pencils with the Hershey Kiss as the tip. It worked really well. Since we personally know my sons new teacher (my mom) she will really appreciate mints over rolos any day. :D THanks for the idea!!

Lucy August 25, 2011 at 9:24 pm

Cute, quick, and makes me wish I was a teacher! I’m planning to make these with my niece when we visit next week. Thanks for the great idea.

beth August 28, 2011 at 7:07 pm

Do you think this will work with construction paper?

Beth August 28, 2011 at 8:44 pm

I tried this with glue dots but it left the edges not stuck together. What am I doing wrong? Do I need to use alot of dots all in a row?

Christy August 28, 2011 at 9:22 pm

@beth Yes, you could easily use construction paper for these.

Christy August 28, 2011 at 9:24 pm

@Beth I didn’t have to use a lot of glue dots. I used regular tape to tape it down to the Rolo’s and then I used the glue dots on the edges you can see. I used 3 glue dots for the yellow part, one at the top, one at the bottom and one in the middle.

The Happy Wife/Danielle September 5, 2011 at 6:23 pm

Thanks for the inspiration. I tried to recreate something similar, but could not find rolls of Rolos :/ I substituted a roll of fruit Mentos which have a shiny pink wrapper which doubled as the eraser. The biggest problem is that the kiss was a bit bigger than the Mentos which made them awkward to wrap. I also had to use construction paper instead of card stock, but I think the cardstock looks nicer. Anyway, I posted my version and tutorial on my blog with a link back to this post. Feel free to check them out, but yours came out way better. http://juanshappywife.blogspot.com/2011/09/craft-tutorial-candy-pencils.html

Cindy Kluger September 6, 2011 at 10:02 pm

Just made a couple of these for my kids who are attending a new school tomorrow & are a bit nervous. I think they’ll love them, and they’ll have something (the Rolos) to share with their new friends.

Thanks for posting this!

Catherine Steadman October 6, 2011 at 12:02 am

Thanks for the idea and for putting this together. I will do that someday.
Catherine

Lisa Reed February 25, 2012 at 6:23 pm

I want to make these for my students. We have a state writing exam Tuesday and these would be perfect. I have a problem though….I can’t find the Rolos…where did you buy them? I checked Target and the grocery store.

mani March 31, 2012 at 11:23 am

sooo cute i think I’m going to make these for my students last day of school. the note probably would say great school year!

Amanda May 2, 2012 at 5:27 pm

I wanted to make these, and was just about to by Rolos or Mentos, and THEN…I found GIANT SMARTIES rolls at the gas station! $0.29/roll! Love the idea of the smarties since its for teachers, and that they won’t melt! Can’t wait to make them tonight! Thanks for a FABULOUS idea!!

Janna Finch July 17, 2012 at 1:36 pm

I better get busy making these for my 4th graders as a Welcome Back to school gift. They are so cute. Thanks for sharing.

Janna
Fabulous Finch Facts

deb hercsek July 20, 2012 at 7:14 am

You can cut the pencil point end with a pinking shears to make it look like it is sharpened and chalk the end.

deb hercsek July 20, 2012 at 7:15 am

You can take pinking shears and cut the pencil point end to look like it is sharpened and chalk the end.

Jenny Rohrs July 28, 2012 at 6:16 am

Love this! I’m sharing it this week on my “Week In Review & Pinterest -ing Finds” post. Good on you for being so clever! -Jeny

Buffy August 5, 2012 at 12:53 am

Fantastic craft idea! Thank You so much for showing how to do it!

Lulu August 8, 2012 at 3:53 pm

Thank you so much for sharing. I love it.

Jen August 13, 2012 at 3:11 am

Awesome- so cute.

Jen
Creativea and Curious Kids!

Amy August 23, 2012 at 2:56 pm

Just made a couple of these for my son to take to his 1st grade teacher tonight for meet the teacher. I had almost everything already, including those fabulous glue dots :) Just had to make a quick stop for the rolos and hugs at the local Walgreens. It took me maybe 10 minutes to put it all together. Thanks for the awesome idea, it was perfect!

Lauren @ {{mercyINK}} August 25, 2012 at 6:31 am

These are the sweetest! Please consider linking up at our Back to School Resource linky at http://www.mercyinkblog.com/back-to-school-tips-tricks-tools we’d love to have ya! :)

blessings,
lauren

JDaniel4's Mom August 25, 2012 at 3:16 pm

I would love for you to link this post to my Back to School Traditions link up! It is awesome! http://www.jdaniel4smom.com/2012/08/back-to-school-tradtions-link-up.html

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