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I get a lot of questions about how I get my kids to take vitamins and while mine will just take their cod liver oil, probiotics, and magnesium without a problem … it got me thinking.
I combined one of their favorite natural snacks (jello/homemade gummy bears) with vitamins to make a healthy, gut-boosting, and really kid-friendly multivitamin.
DIY Chewable Vitamins
I can think of endless uses for these, but these are the ones I’ve tried so far:
- Adding vitamin C Powder and using lemon juice to make chewable sour gummies
- Adding probiotics with a fresh juice base to make GAPS friendly chewy vitamins (add Probiotics after heating!)
- Using homemade elderberry syrup as a base to make flu-busting chewy vitamins
- Adding Natural Calm for chewable magnesium vitamins
- Just making regular flavors and putting them in cute molds to make gummy snacks that are nut-free and approved for school activities
- I’d love to hear other ideas that you guys think about!
One caution: If your kids aren’t regularly drinking bone broth (they should be!) then start slow and only give them a few of these at a time as their gut adjusts or they might have a little loose stool since gelatin has a soothing effect on the digestive system. The advantage to these is that they use gelatin powder as a base so they sooth the gut and give some of the same benefits as bone broth.
If you are short on time or unable to make chewable vitamins, Hiya would be my next best option.
Homemade Chewable Vitamins Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 tsp gelatin powder
- 1 cup juice — not pineapple!
- 2 TBSP honey optional
- vitamins of choice such as vitamin C probiotics, magnesium
Instructions
- Combine the juice, gelatin, and honey if using in a small sauce pan and whisk to incorporate.
- Heat slightly over low heat until gelatin is completely dissolved. It will be thick and somewhat syrup-like.
- Remove from heat and whisk in vitamins and probiotics if using.
- Very quickly pour into molds or a small glass dish lightly oiled with coconut oil and put in the freezer for 10 minutes to harden.
- Remove and pop out of molds. Cut into squares if needed.
- Serve and enjoy! Tell the kids that they are gummy bears and they won’t even know that are getting vitamins!
Notes
Nutrition
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Ever made your own vitamins or supplements? What combinations would you add? Let me know below!
Hi Katie,
I don’t normally post links on public thread/walls, but I just found “Gummi Bear silicone ice cube trays” online! The first thing I thought of was your gummi vitamins, and I thought I would share. I bet kids would love having gummi bears. Or I would love to have a gummi bear again, not sure which 🙂
HI – just wondering about using Natural Calm magnesium without first dissolving it in water. Do you think this makes a difference in absorbability? (the directions say to dissolve it in warm water to make it “ionic”) Thoughts?
The juice provides enough of a liquid to help it dissolve from what I can tell…
amazing! definitely will be making these!
What brand of juice do you use? I have a hard time finding juice w/o sugar.
I’ve actually just fresh juiced most of the time, but there are a couple of brands in glass jars in the organic section of our store that don’t have sugar…
Juicy Juice has no sugar added. My daughter drinks that all the time.
Juicy Juice is using GMOs for flavoring last I read. We only buy organic juices now. Thought I’d mention it since it seems a waste to make healthy gummis with GMO juice.
https://www.naturalnews.com/037288_GMO_boycott_food_companies.html
lots of sugar free juices in health food stores and on aisles in many grocery stores. Even Welch’s 100% grapejuice is free of it. 🙂
All juice is going to have grams of sugar listed on the nutrition info as fruit has naturally occurring sugars; just check to make sure sugar isn’t being added in the ingredient list.
I think the brand is R.W. Knudsen or you can juice fresh…
There are still quite a few people around that make apple cider. After some research, I was able to find a local source with unpasteurized cider, and it is so much more delicious! Store bought juices have been pasteurized….which basically turns them into sugar water. For those unable to find an unpasteurized source, I highly recommend doing your own juicing. I don’t have a fancy juicer, but a little elbow grease and an old school juicer from the thrift store make the recipes so much more healthy (and delicious) since the food is actually alive!
I’ve been thinking about this idea over the past few weeks and here you’ve already done most of the work for me! So glad I found this and can’t wait to try it out out. I’ve been contemplating an herbal vitamin tincture for my boys since, even at 6 and 8, they don’t seem to be able to take the food-based vitamins I have for them. I just need to do some research and decide exactly what I’d like in their herbal multi tincture and then get moving on it.
Great post…We were wondering how long they keep, do they need to be refrigerated or do you have to eat them right away
They don’t have to be, but we keep them for a week or more in the fridge
This looks very interesting!
I haven’t tried it, but it probably would… Great Lakes does make a kosher beef gelatin though…
Nice! Thank you (times a million!) for adding the awesome little printable recipe! So much easier than copying and pasting (something I’ve been working on with a lot of your recipes). ;0)
Do you know if this will work for an oil base like FCLO? I’ve got a variety of things I’d love to be able to give my daughter to heal her health (from my bad health) but thought I’d have to wait until she was old enough to take a pill.
That is on my list to try. It will work, though it might need to be emulsified, I’m just not sure on the taste… have you tried the kids licorice flavored gel? My kids actually really like that one
We’re drowning in student loans and I only have 1.5 bottles of cinnamon from a bulk buy so I don’t know and I’ll never know. Just trying to make the best of what I’ve got so I can’t exactly go experimenting if it won’t work. The other question is how well do they store? Have you made a huge batch yet?
I’ve been making small batches since they are so fast to make, but they should store weeks in the fridge. Maybe try a chai tea/coconut milk base with the cinnamon to hide the taste! Let me know how it goes..
So can I make enough for 2 weeks or 4? I plan on using fresh pressed concord grape juice. Can they be frozen?
I forgot to ask, if you are using the elderberry does that replace the 1/2 cup juice? When cutting them or putting them in molds how much would you say a serving would be? How much of the vitamin C and Magnesium and probiotics do you use or do you base those amounts on servings? Thanks!!
Hi Katie!!! My question is how long do you put it on the heat for? How can you tell if the gelatin is dissolved? Mine did not get thick and syrupy… thanks!!