Charlie and the Cotton Candy Machine: an unexpected form of therapy, education, and socialization!

Published: March 10, 2022 – Thursday

I’m going to start this post with all of the things we bought to create this opportunity for Charlie, and I will follow up with the “story” about how this seemingly small (and unlikely) thing has made a huge difference in Charlie’s life!

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Here’s everything you need to buy for this “experience”!!!

• The base of the cotton candy machine: https://amzn.to/3vWvgXj
• The lid for the cotton candy machine: https://amzn.to/3pWDdYB
• The cotton candy sugar (get the cheap stuff to practice on!): https://amzn.to/3I1TUbv
• The paper cones for making the cotton candy – cheap option: https://amzn.to/3vUeBDO
• Paper cones for making the cotton candy – *fun* option (slightly more per cone): https://amzn.to/34yLbQh
• Jolly ranchers: https://amzn.to/3Kr2Qc2
• Organic maple sugar [worth the expense!]: https://amzn.to/3tNfifB
• Poster board! (for a sign): https://amzn.to/3I08Nej
• Markers (for a sign!): https://amzn.to/3CvybYl
• An authentic Italian straw hat!: https://amzn.to/3ME6MrL
• Blue Satin Ribbon: https://amzn.to/3tINF7g
• Yellow Acrylic Paint: https://amzn.to/3tMljJd
• Paint Brushes: https://amzn.to/379Cmxd
• Large Ball Jars (for storing the sugar after you open the cartons): https://amzn.to/3CwyIcm
• & we bought a ussed tuxedo vest for $1 on close-out from the local formalwear store (Mr. Formal in Portland!)

Amazon links are affiliate links. If you purchase something after clicking on one of Lead Safe Mama’s affiliate links we may receive aa small percentage of what you spend at no extra cost to you.

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So here’s the story part…

Charlie (the super-tall guy in the hat in the pictures) is now 13 years old. Two years ago he was about a foot shorter and just 11 years old. Up to that point in his life (for the 5 years prior at least) he had never consistently attended school. I had ideas about how to work with the Special Education team to encourage him to attend school — but the school district refused to let me collaborate with the teachers to implement the plan I knew would work – so we were at a bit of an impasse… 

Charlie’s always really liked earning money, and on the days he refused to attend school, I would have to pay a babysitter to watch him, so I came up with a brilliant plan — that would save me money AND encourage him to attend school…I told him that for each day he attended school (starting in the Fall of 2019, which for him was 5th grade), he would earn $10 towards a big-ticket purchase of his choice [to be redeemed at some non-specific point in time in the future when I would have the financial resources to buy him the thing of his choice!]. He was super excited about this idea (as was I — since babysitters cost $15.00 to $20.00 an hour around here, so $10 a day for him to attend school was a bargain!). We also worked out a shortened school day, with a late start… so a “full day” of school for him was just under three hours (or sometimes just two hours — but still way cheaper than a babysitter at “$10 a day”) 

So by the time February, 2020 rolled around, Charlie had saved me a fortune in babysitting, and he had “earned” something like $350 (35 days having attended school since the beginning of the year!) I had a little extra income from the holiday season, and let him cash in his “buy whatever you want” opportunity that month… He had (for months, as he was earning money and keeping track of how much he had earned) been dreaming about A REAL PROFESSIONAL COTTON CANDY MACHINE! With what he earned he had enough to buy the machine, the bubble lid (required!), the sugar, and the cotton candy paper cones…he was SET!  

And then he got sick.

In February of 2020 everyone in my family was sick — really sick [right before the the earliest U.S. cases of COVID-19 were announced — beginning right here in the Pacific Northwest; when we recall how incredibly sick we all were, we always wonder…]! Because of this, we kept Charlie home from school — starting two weeks before the rest of the world started staying home. He recovered in time to pop in for (what turned out to be) one last day of school — before all hell broke loose and they closed the school for The Pandemic!  And on that last day of school [on that fateful day we didn’t know the world was about to implode — and that 19 long months would pass before he would see the inside of a school again!] he decided he really wanted to bring his new cotton candy machine to school – for a party for his class (which was comprised of about 5 other Special Needs kids, and 5 adults [teachers and aides])! So he had this little party (got to use the machine once, essentially) and then the world shut down — and he could not do what he had dreamt of doing with his amazing candy floss machine.

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What did he want to do? What did he end up doing?

He wanted to “set up on the corner making cotton candy, and giving it away for free to anyone who happens by!”. With a once-in-a-century global pandemic raging, he wasn’t able to do this of course, so instead we had a few “sessions” with the machine — just for our family (over the summer)…experimenting with all of the different kinds of sugar, and also using different hard candies, to see what might make good cotton candy! He tried:

• Jolly Ranchers
• Butterscotch Candy
• Organic Coconut Sugar
• Organic Date Sugar
• Organic Maple Sugar
• Various Flavors of Cough Drops [!!!!!!]
• Zots
• … and many, many, many other things! lol.

We had some bad things happen [don’t try to use sticky candies — because they will really screw up the motor — thank heaven my husband is a mechanic – with a very-well-equipped shop!…)  – and we learned how very important it is to thoroughly clean everything when you are done using it / make sure the machine is super-clean before you use it again!) This was all the great “science lesson” component of learning generated by having this machine!

#FunFacts:

1. Real organic maple sugar makes the most incredible all-natural cotton candy!
2. Jolly Ranchers make amazing cotton candy, too!
3. When you use cotton candy sugar to make cotton candy, the cost is about FIVE CENTS per cotton candy cone (plus ten cents for the paper cone – so a total of 15 cents in “materials”). That makes the $5 price tag in most amusement parks so outrageous, when you realize that!
4. The organic maple sugar cotton candy, on the other hand, makes a much smaller “poof” of cotton candy (for the same amount of sugar) and costs about $1 per cotton candy puff!

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Now that the pandemic is “almost over” (!!!?) he is finally living his dream!

The past couple of weekends he finally had the opportunity he was waiting for – the opportunity to stand on the corner [All weekend! as long as the sun is shining!] and give cotton candy away to anyone walking by who wanted some! He’s been having a blast doing this. The very first time he setup on the corner was so very funny, because some young men came by and got some cotton candy and remarked “See — this is what Portland is about — a random person giving away cotton candy on a street corner!” They were visiting from out of town for the weekend and they thought it was absolutely magical [a true #Portlandia moment]  And now for two weekends in a row he has been out there on the corner giving away cotton candy and interacting with people – it’s been truly amazing.

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Giving away cotton candy is helping him to learn so many things!:

• Science: Learning which sugars work and which don’t, and trying to figure out what other types of sugars and candies might be good (based on the qualities / properties of the previously-tried sugars and candies that did or did not work well with the machine).
• Research Skills: Both doing the research needed to decide which machine he wanted to buy and also researching (mostly via watching relevant YouTube videos) what types of sugar and candies to try in the machine (and what sorts of cones to use, and more!)
• Asset Management & Responsibility: Learning how to be responsible for all of the pieces of the operation has been key. Being responsible for making sure things are put away at the end of the day (and put away clean) is the hardest lesson — and a very valuable one! He has to put away the machine, the table, the chairs, the sugar, his sign, his tip jar…for a kiddo who is not yet engaged in chores due to his specific disabilities, this is a very important and challenging lesson!
• Engineering: The “engineering” and spatial relationship management required to create a “perfect” cotton candy is not an easy thing to master! He’s very proud that he has this down — and that he even knows how to make a few different shapes of cotton candy poofs now! Being proud of a skill or accomplishment is a huge milestone for him, as well (experiencing the success with a job well-done). This is one of the things most lacking in the lives of many children with cognitive disabilities (especially those who are acutely aware of their disabilities and the areas they are behind in, compared to others in their age cohort.)
• Communication (and  Public Relations!): The social skills necessary to interact with and talk to total strangers. It turns out that convincing random passers by – of various ages, persuasions, and dispositions (and who, here in Portland, appear using the full gamut of transport – from feet, skateboards, and bikes, to electric scooters, cars, and trucks!) – to stop & engage with — and accept free cotton candy from a stranger can require cleverness, charm, and persistence! [Especially when you stand over 6 feet tall and at first glance people think you are an adult man, but you are in reality just a shy 13-year-old boy!]
• Money Management & Budgeting: Charlie has a “tip jar” out for anyone who wants to contribute [but he is insistent that no payment be required; that any gratuity be completely voluntary!], so he now has a little money of his own to manage – which he has to carefully allocate and budget to buy new paper cones, more sugar. and more Jolly Ranchers (a favorite!) Yesterday he was able to go to the food carts around the corner by himself, and buy himself an ice cream cone! This level of independence and autonomy is such an incredible skill for a kiddo to experience and learn from  – and it is especially impactful given he made the earned to buy the ice cream cone “all by himself!”

He’s just doing so great having this to look forward to on the weekends (he’s planning on getting out there again this weekend, too!) and it is also helping him to connect with other children in the neighborhood — something he feels normally too painfully shy and socially awkward to attempt without some sort of social lubricant. The cotton candy machine is the perfect thing (he gets to be the “cool kid” in the neighborhood, even though he faces challenges in talking to other children!)

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Continue reading below the image!

The costume…

And finally, I wanted to share about his costume. This was the costume we put together for his Halloween costume this past year — it is modeled after the Flim Flam Brothers from My Little Pony (I made the costume twice – one for Avi, and one for Charlie!). Charlie thought it would be great to also use for his cotton candy stand!

• We bought a $1-close-out vest from the used formal vest section of the local formalwear store;
• we got a plain white t-shirt for him to wear under the vest (because that’s what it looks like the characters are wearing in the cartoon!),
• I also picked up some blue satin ribbon to sew the appropriate number stripes on to the vest,
• and then I used acrylic paint and painted the vest buttons yellow to match the yellow buttons worn by the Flim Flam brothers in the cartoon.
• Lastly, I found the exact hat that the brothers have drawn on them in the cartoon (it’s an Italian straw “boater” hat often used by barbershop quartets!)
• To make it match up with the cartoon, we also put a blue ribbon around the hat (it comes with a black one)…et, voila!

This kid now has something to look forward to [which has been a really elusive aspect of his life during the pandemic!] and this is something that generates an extreme amount of joy for him, so it is truly wonderful for all of us! [It also keeps him BUSY and OUTSIDE and AWAY FROM SCREEN MEDIA  on the weekends… so #WinWinWinWinWin!!!!]

May your children also find similar sources of happiness and engagement during these complicated times.

Thanks for reading!

…And if you ever find yourself in the Sellwood neighborhood in Portland, OR on a sunny weekend, look for Charlie on the corner [SE 15th Ave. and SE Miller St. – across from St. Agatha’s] and say Hi! [and treat yourself to a taste of his spectacular organic maple sugar cotton candy – if you happen by on a special day when he is offering that!!]

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
Owner – Lead Safe Mama, LLC
Mother of Lead Poisoned Children