Lately, my daughter has been very interested in space. We watched a PBS show aimed at children about the solar system and ever since she has been asking me why we can't live on Jupiter or Neptune and why Saturn doesn't stink if it's made of gas. I was beyond excited at her enthusiasm and wanted to foster it in any way I could. Besides heading to the library for books on the subject, I used one of my favorite recycled childhood crafts to further engage her interest in the great beyond....
Melted Sun Catchers
Any easy project to make with what you've got!
- First, we located all our broken crayons from the crayon box. Everyone has some but if you don't, consider snapping the most worn down ones. Remove the paper.
- Grate the crayons on a cheese grater. Use an old one. I didn't and now we have what I shall affectionately call our "craft" grater.
- Spread the shavings on a piece of wax paper. You can mix colors together or use them individually. Cover the shavings with another piece of wax paper.
- With an old towel underneath, place the sandwiched shavings on a flat surface and press with a warm iron. Repeat until the wax is melted and spread to your liking. Sorry. No pic of this step...I can't hold a camera and and iron at the same time.
- Let cool. Cut into desired shapes. You can punch holes in the shapes and thread with yarn to make a mobile or tape them up in a sunny window. We cut ours into planet and star shapes and made a solar system on our sliding glass door.
Happy Crafting!
Cute...I have pics of this saved for an intended "tutorial" but you beat me to it. Ours are on our kitchen window...one in "cool" colours in the shape of a raindrop, and the other in 'warm" colours in the shape of a fire! So fun and simple. I used our kitchen grater and just poured boiling water on it...with a good scrub, it's food worthy again!
ReplyDeleteOh that's really smart! And beautiful! Will keep that one in the back of my mind for when the kiddies come along.
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Kim
www.pathtolivingsimply.blogspot.com
You probably want to clean the iron before you use it on one of your hubby's shirts! The wax from the paper will leave a residue on the iron.
ReplyDeleteLove ya!
This is great, I will remember this for the next rainy day that comes along. I laughed when I read the bit about the cheese grater. It's true, there is absolutely no way to remove crayon from something like that, unless you were able to somehow scrub it under running water that was boiling to melt it.
ReplyDeleteA while ago I made those homemade swirly crayons that you make by melting broken crayons in a muffin tin. Even though I lined the cups with foil, the melted crayon leaked right through and although I tried my darndest to clean the thing, every time I use that muffin tin it smells a bit like crayons! It was my favourite muffin tin, too. Oh well. :)
Laura, I KNOW! We did that project too and and my tin still smells like crayons. I'm starting to gather a whole corner of kitchen utensils labeled "crafts" !
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