You Make Our Class Colorful!

     I had an extra long weekend due to a snow day and Martin Luther King Day, so I worked on a few projects with my children.  Since Valentine's Day will be here soon, we worked on their Valentine's Day cards and some little gifts for teachers/classmates.  One project I wanted to attempt was one I had seen online a lot - melting broken crayons using a mold.  It turned out REALLY cute, so I thought I would share so that others could use it to make a gift for their own classrooms or children.

     First, I found a silicone mold at Michael's that was heart-shaped.  Then, I (easily) found broken crayons among my kids' art supplies.  I decided to use red, purple and pink to fit a Valentine's Day theme.  After peeling the papers off, I filled one of the molds about half full with broken crayon pieces. 

     I heated the oven to 250 degrees and baked the mold for around 13 minutes.  Some tutorials suggest baking at 275.  Upon removal, I let the pan cool for around 10 minutes, and then I placed it in the freezer to harden the new crayon.

     After around 30 minutes in the freezer, I removed the mold and the new crayon.  The colors that blended were beautiful!  The heart did crack (which seems to be a common problem).  In the future, I will allow the mold to cool longer before I place it in the freezer, to minimize such a drastic temperature change.

     Next, I wrapped the crayon in a small plastic candy bag, and added a little tag I made using the Martha Stewart CraftStudio App for iPad (it's an AWESOME app - I use it for many school-related projects).  I've included a sheet with the tags in this blog post for your own use!  Check out the finished product below!

Click here to download the pink tag (PDF file)

Click here to download the pink tag (Word file)