Melted Crayon Art

Have you ever made sun catchers with kids before? Or maybe you’ve made stained glass window art with them. The traditional method for these projects involves crayon shavings and an iron (which I wouldn’t trust young kids to handle), but there’s a simpler way that yields beautiful results! Get extra supplies ready, because this is addictive!

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Supplies

• Candle warmer
• Crayons
• Wax paper
• Scissors

Start by turning on your candle warmer and letting it heat up. While it warms, cut wax paper into circles that are the same size as the hot plate on your candle warmer.

IMPORTANT: Explain to your kids that the hot plate is very warm and can cause burns. Let them know that they can safely touch the plastic (the purple part, in our case), but they cannot touch the hot plate.

NOTE: I can tell you that my three year old did this project without a single incident. Not one burn or even near burn. The hot plate doesn’t get hot enough to cause serious injury, but please be sure to test yours in advance and use your best judgement.

Now that the cautions are out of the way, it’s time to get started with the fun! Place a wax paper circle on the hot plate and let your kids start coloring! It’s a beautiful thing to watch the wax melt right there in front of them!

My three year old got extra excited about watching the colors melt together, so he grabbed a handful of crayons and colored with them at the same time!

I’m pretty sure this has been my son’s hands-down favorite art activity EVER (even more so than sandal art, and that was fun!)

Ways to extend the activity: Have older kids assemble the circles into various forms of sun catchers. They can use sticks, dowels, wire coat hangers, etc and some colorful embroidery floss. Give them creative freedom to design their own display!