I've made candy apples before (& made plenty of hard candy in my time too) but it never occurred to me to do them like this.
One word of caution, this is not a kid friendly project. That is 300° molten sugar, not something the little ones should be helping with.
I'd also like to mention that you need to move kinda quickly with this since it does harden up quickly. You can put it back on the stove to melt it a little more but not for too long or you'll scorch it.
Also if you live in any place that has high humidity your candy will just not set up correctly so if you're experiencing 90°+ temps with 70% humidity like I am, you might wait to make this.
A site for the white food coloring & flavouring oils:
http://www.lorannoils.com/
You can get powdered corn syrup from them which you can use in high humidity:
http://shop.lorannoils.com/candy-making/specialty-ingredients/hi-sweet-powdered-corn-syrup
You can find the oils at Walmart too, sometimes cheaper, but they're a good site for info too.