Swirly Crayons

Last week we made swirly crayons. All the girls are really into basic art supplies right now- we're way behind on our "curriculum" because what they want to do is cut, glue, and color. Want to do a Mother Goose Time craft? NO! Can we have some white paper? Usually I don't stress out about that- it works their fine motor skills and creativity and they're having a good time and so we sit around the table and cut and color. Of course, you can't send home a project that ends up looking like this:

Process, not product.... Process, not product..... :)

They were working hard on this task, yet again, and I decided to sort through our enormous bucket of colors and pull out all the broken ones. They never want to peel the paper and don't like to use the broken ones and since they keep asking me to open new boxes, our crayon situation was getting a little out of control. I googled the basic recipe for melting and remaking crayons, and then I started peeling paper and putting broken pieces in my muffin tin.

And oh my, the girls were intrigued. They got busy helping and we sat at the table for a whole HOUR while we all talked and peeled paper. It was really fun. Makes me think I should get a bunch of corn on the cob or purple hull peas or something. Make 'em earn their keep!


We baked them at 350 until they melted, and then put them straight into the freezer for about 45 minutes, and then they popped right out of the tin. Everyone had a great time making rainbows and swirly drawings.

I keep meaning to send each of them home with a muffin top crayon and I keep forgetting. They turned out really well!

And then that afternoon O'Malley flushed a ball down the toilet so we got to watch the plumber unbolt the toilet from the floor and carry it into the yard. Such a very interesting day. Art class? Free. Plumber? Not so much...