Fun with crayons

 I have a crayon fetish.  I can't throw crayons away. I admit it, and I'm not sorry. Those little waxy sticks of color are just way too useful to throw away.  After the fireworks on the fourth, I was inspired to try a new crayon craft with the kids.  One that would mimic the look of fireworks in the sky.  

In retrospect, I realize we should have used dark colored paper if we truly wanted to mimic the night sky.  I don't know how that would affect the colors though.  

Sorry I didn't take more pictures.  (I think I've proven that when I get too interested in what I'm doing, the idea of taking pictures leaves my mind.)  But I think you get the jist here.  To make  your own crayon fireworks, you need to have a tupperware full of old naked crayons, a piece of heavy paper, and a hair dryer.

Ignore the iron in this picture.  We didn't use it for this project.  What you need is a hair dryer. Also, ignore the messy craft room.  It's still getting unpacked and organized.  Please and thank you. 

Have the kids pick a few choice colors for their fireworks and lightly (very lightly) glue them onto your paper at various points. (glue too thick will get puffy when subjected to heat)  Keep in mind that once the crayons melt, they go everywhere.  Prepare yourself for this inevitability by laying down a table cloth (I have one that I bought at the dollar store that we use for all our messy crafts.), also, only use a small amount of crayon.  We used about 1/4 of a crayon for each color.  The wax, it is runny and you get a lot out of a little.  You can always add more if you want more.  

Let the glue dry a bit, and then set your hair dryer on high heat and blow the holy heck out of the crayons.  We achieved the fireworks affect by holding the hair dryer directly over the crayon and watching it blow in all directions.  But you can adjust the angle of the hair dryer for different blown effects. 

Dev's masterpiece

 The kids LOVED this craft!   They really liked experimenting with the hair dryer and the angle of the air to get different effects.  It was very easy to set up and do, which is another bonus.

Go try it!  And if you aren't going to use up all your crayons, mail them to me!