I love them because since they're made with beeswax they go on the page really beautifully and smell heavenly. They layer nice and because they're blocks are great for broad strokes. The colors are vivid and translucent at the same time.
Michael loves them because they stack like blocks. He made a quick drawing that he said was water with fish and trees. Then, while I colored he played with them.
He also loves to imagine that the case is an oven and he's making "color cakes". He puts them all in the oven, they bake for a few seconds, and out they pop. Then we have to "eat" them. He may have come up with this game because a few weeks ago we made our own block crayons.
We took broken crayons and put them into an old muffin pan that I no longer use for baking. We put like colors together and also experimented a little with adding different shades and adding white to the yellow for instance. (Which by the way doesn't work so well, the colors make cool swirl designs but don't seem to blend together).
Then we put the pan in the oven on a very low setting to let them melt. They melt quickly. I also made a couple blocks that had two different stripes of color. I put one color into a can and when the muffin tin had melted, then hardened I put the melted color on top. So for example we made a blue and green striped block and an orange and silver block.This is a great activity if you have many broken crayons or crayon nubs. One thing I wouldn't do again is to add Crayola brand with cheaper brand crayons. We found that in some places our homemade block crayons just don't color. The cheaper brand crayons don't seem to work well or mix well with Crayola. Not a big surprise as they don't color as well as Crayola to begin with. I like these homemade crayons but not nearly as much as the beeswax crayons. They just don't color as smooth and evenly. That's my bias as an artist though, I think Michael likes them equally as well.
All in all, this was a really fun project to do together and is a great way to reuse crayons that may have gotten thrown away otherwise.
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Thanks for the great idea of what to do with broken crayons! I've mostly been throwing them away. It felt wasteful, but I just wasn't sure what to hang onto them for, and I was tired of stepping on them. Now I'm going to save them up to make block crayons with.
ReplyDeleteMichael really looks engaged!
Fionna did a fun crayon craft awhile back in which we put large stones (like river rock) in the oven on a low setting for a couple of hours. Then, we took then out one at a time, put them on a heat-safe surface and she colored them with crayons. The crayon melted and ran as she colored and made the most beautiful designs. Maybe a hard craft for younger kiddos because of the hot rock factor but they came out so beautifully.
ReplyDeleteI love break and bake crayons! We did it as a project last year, and somehow I wasn't around that day (co-op), your post reminded me to give it a try! Also, a good way to introduce the more beautiful beeswax block crayons. You've taken to the Waldorf groove like a duck to water, your process is totally inspiring me.
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Thanks guys! It is a really fun project. I love the river rock crayon idea, Renee! I'll have to try that one.
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Sadie just got those crayons for her birthday. I've been meaning to "make" crayons too. So many from restaurants and the like...
ReplyDeleteGreat idea. I have been wondering what to do with all the crayon ends that have been stacking up in my cupboard :)
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