These paint chip candy canes were completely unplanned, and came about when one little Hooligan wanted to do some cutting yesterday. He grabbed the scissors, and I flipped through the paint chips, and what with it being Christmas-time and all, I picked out several red chips for him to practice his cutting skills on. 
I’ve mentioned before that a stash of paint chips is a great addition to any kid’s craft room. Little ones love to practice cutting along the lines, which is great for developing fine motor and scissor skills, and we’ve used them in lots of different crafts and activities. Our paint chip mosaics were one of my favourite paint chip projects to date. 
Back to yesterday: the little guy is cutting away, and red strips are falling, and a thought occurs to me! Paint Chip Candy Canes!
At one point, when I realized this spontaneous craft session might be “blog-worthy”, I said ”Hey, this is really cool! Let me grab my camera!”. I ran upstairs to grab it, and returned to find that someone else was apparently going to be doing some blogging as well. 
Today we made the candy canes again with the whole group.
They cut their paint chips into strips, and glued them to their candy canes. 
And then trimmed the bits that were hanging over the edges.
Off topic for a moment, I want to share with you that one of my most enthusiastic little crafters right now is this little guy. At the beginning of the season he did not have the patience for crafting. He just wanted finish as quickly as possible, and get back to playing.
In 3 short months, it’s a completely different story: He often asks to craft, and he’s gone from not knowing how to hold a pair of scissors to being one of the best “cutters” in the daycare. Remember, he asked to do some cutting yesterday, and that’s how the whole candy cane craft came about.
I absolutely love that he’s discovered his creative side. 
Here are our finished candy canes. Depending on the size of yours, you can turn it into a tree ornament or a door hanger. 
We glued magnets (recycled fridge magnets from various businesses) to the back of ours, and the Hooligans were taking them home to put on their fridges.
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Love! will definitely be doing this with my toddler friends** this week! she just started using her first pair of safety scissors, prior to that she pretended to cut using her pointer and middle finger, while I used actual scissors. She will love cutting up the paint chips and I will enjoy not wasting them and repurposing them.. and WOW what a great idea to use company magnets on the back!! I have a bunch on my fridge that I was going to throw away…bingo! Now I don’t have to stop off any buy magnets! Thanks again, your friend and fellow caregiver Teri from Toronto
ps. that is so great that you helped foster his creative side
Thanks for idea!:)
Love this idea
We will definitely be doing this!
It’s so great that you are nurturing a love of arts and crafts in the kids. I adore this idea. Even my 8-year-old would enjoy this!
Thank you, Joann. I am really thrilled that he’s gone from disliking craft time to being the most avid little crafter in the bunch! He’s actually starting to suggest crafts that he thinks we should do here at the daycare!