This is a great Valentine's craft as it requires a few simple ingredients, it quick and easy and kids love them.

In addition to the ingredients you will need a length of red or pink ribbon for each necklace, one or two drinking straws cut into 5cm lengths, and some heart shaped cookie cutters – you will require one heart shaped mould for each necklace or child. If you don't have any heart shaped cookie cutters I use the kid's play-doh shapes – I run them through the dishwasher first to make sure there is no play-doh left on them. The dishwasher has the added advantage of sterilising them also.

4 cups of rice crispies
1 ½ cups of chocolate chips

Melt the chocolate. Mix in the rice crispies. Place the heart shaped moulds on a tray covered with a piece of baking paper. Hold a piece of drinking straw in the position where you will put the ribbon through. Gently squash spoonfuls of the mixture into the heart shaped cookie cutters, around the drinking straw. Place the tray in the fridge to set. When the chocolate is hard you can remove the mould, remove the straw and thread the piece of ribbon through the hole left by the straw. There you have a heart shaped edible necklace!

Variations

- You can melt Mars bars, Reece's pieces or other commercially available chocolate bars that will melt and set, instead of chocolate or as part of the chocolate for a taste variation. The Mars bar option will be a little stickier, but very tasty.
- Add two tablespoons of coconut oil to thin out the chocolate a bit and make it set shinier.
- Add some desiccated coconut
- Make traditional rice crispie treats and dip one side in chocolate and then coconut or your choice of coloured sprinkles.
- Add chopped nuts instead of rice crispies to make a nuttier version. These will have to be a little thinner or they will be difficult to bite.

The options are your to enjoy!

Of course the necklaces will eventually melt a little, particularly if valentines day occurs in warm weather where you live, but they never last long enough to make a mess as they are quickly eaten!