Crayon Melt

One of the activities I remember fondly from my early school days was melting crayons on a hot plate.  With all the issues of safety, I don't think it's a common project these days, at least not in Kindergarten, but I have seen it popping up in the homeschool and preschool networks all over the web.  I decided it was time to take a risk and let my son try this fun activity.  

Unfortunately, I don't have a flat electric griddle.  I wish I did for the sole purpose of this project, but I had to work with what I had; my George Foreman grill with interchangeable plates.  I attached the griddle plate and covered it with foil.  I wasn't sure how messy my son would get.  Once it was warmed, I placed the construction paper over the foil.  

 Michael enjoyed watching the crayons melt over the paper.  

 One crayon just wasn't enough!  

The finished product.

My son is a boys boy; always going, always busy.  Projects never last for very long but he does seem to enjoy them.  This was a simple project to pull out that didn't require a lot of set-up so the fact that he finished in 5 minuets wasn't a big deal.  I definitely want to try this again when his sister is around!

Shared on:

Raising Kids is Tough: Ask the Experts

My friend and one of the It's Playtime co-hostesses, Jamie of hands on: as we grow, has put together a great series called Raising Kids is Tough.  She has gathered a list of experts available to answer questions regarding eating habits, unwanted behaviors, social skills, and more.  What you need to do is follow her link and ask your questions.  Each month she'll choose 5 questions of a specific topic for the experts to answer.  The topic each month will be based on your questions and what people want to know.  Additional, topic related questions, will be asked via the hands on: as we grow facebook fan page for the experts, as well as the fans, to answer.

I encourage you to visit and ask your tough questions regarding child rearing.  It's true what they say, "It takes a whole village to raise a child."  These experts and the facebook community are part of your village and are here to help!  

It's Playtime: Back to School with Fun Things to Do

I know many of you teachers, homeschoolers, and unschoolers out there are back to school already.  You've been preparing for months but you still want some ideas stored away for a rainy day, or maybe just some newer ideas to add to your usual lesson plans.  So here you go!  This week on It's Playtime I bring you some great learning ideas posted during last weeks play date.  Enjoy, share, and add your own!  We are so glad you came to play.  

 I Heart Crafty Things put together this great lesson plan revolving around the book, Red Light, Green Light by Anastasia Suen.  She includes color sorting, math, language, and fine motor skills.    Perfect for boys and girls alike!  

Simple and beautiful, this fine motor skill activity from Share & Remember involves small suction cup bath mats and jewels.  Preschoolers will enjoy creating patterns and designs with an underwater theme.   

  Keeping Life Creative shared a DIY Recycled Crayon post, melting similar colored crayons together in cupcake papers, creating new, peanut butter cup shaped crayons.  While over at Slightly Nerdy. Sometimes Cool. they used Recycled Crayons to create their own rainbow crayons.  

Over at Tinker Lab, Rachelle's been working hard on her DIY Light Table and adding a different element to the learning experience...salt!  I love the prints and patterns that adding salt to the table creates.  

While on the discussion of Discovering Light, Beansprouts Preschool Blog took a boring, old sensory table full of cornstarch and shells and added some beautiful colored lights, creating a whole new sensory experience!

If you were featured this week, don't forget to grab your special "featured button."

<a href="http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeEYKQj4S7oHoLKfsA3PoeXgaNMJ5dxkdUxIphbmwXOlbFg78Gwl73-rT8AdMTgmqYmIJZrkJRYOqOEItkCbR_exui4YhZqLlwZaBHXhC5slGyqPScnxvq-zrQezw9-MdIUiecgW3fxKg/s1600/featured-messykids.jpg" width="150/" /></a>

Now, on to this weeks play date! 

It's Playtime is a community and Thursday link-up hosted by:

* Rachele : Messy Kids (That's me!)
* Anna : The Imagination Tree
* Rachel : Quirky Momma
* Jamie : hands on : as we grow
* Jenny : Let the Children Play

How to Play :

* Link up a post about a playful learning experience enjoyed by kids.
* Give us love and pop a button into your post/blog. Invite your readers to the weekly play date!

<a href="http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VWLA7lm_Fqc/TaNHGpGSuVI/AAAAAAAAEX0/DGSvqIT7fyU/s320/RED-itplaytime.jpg" width="150" /></a>

* Stop by one of our blogs every Thursday and add your link about play. Your link will show up on each of the blogs in the It's Playtime community.

* Each week the playtime hosts will choose favorite posts to feature. (By linking you are giving us permission to use an image and link to you, if featured.)

* Be sure to visit some of the links that catch your eye. Commenting on posts that you find interesting or inspiring is a wonderful way to develop your own playful community.

Baked Crayon Mess...umm...Art

While visiting education.com one day I came across a Baked Crayon Art (directions found by following the link) activity that looked fun and I had to try it.  So I set the activity up for my kids and they went to work .    

Ariel's task to was help peel all the crayons.  Michael tried but quickly lost interest.  

Paper isn't sturdy enough for this project, so we cut the sides off an old cereal box.  We covered some cookie sheets with foil in case the crayons melted over.  

 

 Ariel was more deliberate in the placing of her crayons and objects.  She even used foam letters to "sign" her name.  I warned her that once the crayon melted, it probably wouldn't look the way she wanted but like any typical 8 year old, she knew better then me.  

Michael tried using stickers, foam pieces, and an old rice and bean sensory mix for his art.  He started off placing items in specific places, but once he got to the rice and beans, he ended up coving his cardboard just for fun.  

 We baked the art at 250 degrees for about 10 min.  The idea of this project is to allow the mess to cool only slightly so the kids can use a popsicle stick to move around the melted crayon creating a beautiful design.  I allowed ours to cool a little too long...

Over cooling wasn't too bad for Ariel since she had plenty of room to work with her melted crayon.  She found that scraping the wax could be fun too!  

Michael on the other hand was unable to do much more then pick rice and beans off the art.  

 Michael's mess...umm...art.  All that matters was he was proud of it!  

Ariel's project.  She was a bit frustrated that the design she created with the crayons didn't carry over to the melted version.  I did warn her!  

What we learned:

• Foam letters and shapes shrink (you may think, "Duh!" but I didn't think about that a head of time)
• As Ariel learned, creating a design doesn't really matter.  Crayons melt where they please.
• Don't cool for too long or you won't be able to swirl the melted crayon.  If scraping is what you want, then go for it!  
• Foil confetti curls (I know, I know...duh!)
• Giving a 3 year old beans and rice to add to the project may not be the best idea as they will cover everything!  

I think we might just have to try this again one day...without all the added items...just crayons!

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It's Playtime: Ice is Nice

For many of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the Dog Days of Summer have arrived and ice play is everywhere on the web as we attempt to stay cool.  Last weeks It's Playtime link party was our most popular to-date, and it seemed to me, ice play/art was a favorite topic for bloggers to share.  This week, I've chosen some of my favorite ice projects from last weeks play date.  Enjoy....and stay cool!

I loved this Artsy Ice Experiment from Creative Connections for Kids.  They blended science with art (color mixing) and had nature (the summer sun!) do all the dirty work for them.  A great summer experiment!

Pre-school Play shared with us that sometimes planned projects take on a life of their own when a preschooler becomes involved.  A typical ice cube painting project quickly turned to Ice Cube (Body) Painting when this little one decided to explore her medium.  I wish I could paint my body and people think it's cute!  

A Salt and Ice Extravaganza came from Praises of a Wife and Mommy.  Salt is great for creating crevices in ice chunks.  Add some color and you have an artistic chemical reaction!  

The Chocolate Muffin Tree took salt and ice exploration one step further and created some lovely, Colorful Ice Sculptures.  I love the giant blocks of ice the little cubes and the big cubes created once they melted together.  

Honorable Mentions: 

The Iowa Farmer's Wife: Ice Play  (perfect for toddlers!)

Dimples & Giggles: Painting with Colored Ice

Walnut Acre: Farm Animals in Ice

If you were featured this week, don't forget to grab your special "featured button."

<a href="http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeEYKQj4S7oHoLKfsA3PoeXgaNMJ5dxkdUxIphbmwXOlbFg78Gwl73-rT8AdMTgmqYmIJZrkJRYOqOEItkCbR_exui4YhZqLlwZaBHXhC5slGyqPScnxvq-zrQezw9-MdIUiecgW3fxKg/s1600/featured-messykids.jpg" width="150/" /></a>

Now, on to this weeks play date! 

It's Playtime is a community and Thursday link-up hosted by:

* Rachele : Messy Kids (That's me!)
* Anna : The Imagination Tree
* Rachel : Quirky Momma
* Jamie : hands on : as we grow
* Jenny : Let the Children Play

How to Play :

* Link up a post about a playful learning experience enjoyed by kids.
* Give us love and pop a button into your post/blog. Invite your readers to the weekly play date!

<a href="http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VWLA7lm_Fqc/TaNHGpGSuVI/AAAAAAAAEX0/DGSvqIT7fyU/s320/RED-itplaytime.jpg" width="150" /></a>

* Stop by one of our blogs every Thursday and add your link about play. Your link will show up on each of the blogs in the It's Playtime community.

* Each week the playtime hosts will choose favorite posts to feature. (By linking you are giving us permission to use an image and link to you, if featured.)

* Be sure to visit some of the links that catch your eye. Commenting on posts that you find interesting or inspiring is a wonderful way to develop your own playful community.

It's Playtime: Party Time!

It can be difficult planning a birthday party.  From the type of cake to make (or purchase) to ways to entertain the children.  Instead of fretting about your child's next party, check out these fabuloso ideas discovered on last weeks It's Playtime!

Rather then a tired ol' sheet cake for your next party, try baking this yummy Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Box Cake created by Sun Scholars instead.  

 Don't forget the ice cream!  TinkerLab shared with us how Painting on Ice Cream can create edible works of art.  Why not turn this into a fun and creative party activity?  The kids will thank you!  

And what child can resist party games?  Especially when they involve water balloons!  Local Fun for Kids shared 5 Ideas for Water Balloon Games.  

 Themed parties don't always need to involve character plates and cups.  It can be about the dress and activities instead.  My Oatmeal Kisses shared some great ideas for a Princess Party.  

If you were featured this week, don't forget to grab your special "featured button."     

<a href="http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeEYKQj4S7oHoLKfsA3PoeXgaNMJ5dxkdUxIphbmwXOlbFg78Gwl73-rT8AdMTgmqYmIJZrkJRYOqOEItkCbR_exui4YhZqLlwZaBHXhC5slGyqPScnxvq-zrQezw9-MdIUiecgW3fxKg/s1600/featured-messykids.jpg" width="150/" /></a>

Now, on to this weeks play date! 

It's Playtime is a community and Thursday link-up hosted by:

* Rachele : Messy Kids (That's me!)
* Anna : The Imagination Tree
* Rachel : Quirky Momma
* Jamie : hands on : as we grow
* Jenny : Let the Children Play

How to Play :

* Link up a post about a playful learning experience enjoyed by kids.
* Give us love and pop a button into your post/blog. Invite your readers to the weekly play date!

<a href="http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VWLA7lm_Fqc/TaNHGpGSuVI/AAAAAAAAEX0/DGSvqIT7fyU/s320/RED-itplaytime.jpg" width="150" /></a>

* Stop by one of our blogs every Thursday and add your link about play. Your link will show up on each of the blogs in the It's Playtime community.
* Each week the playtime hosts will choose favorite posts to feature. (By linking you are giving us permission to use an image and link to you, if featured.)
* Be sure to visit some of the links that catch your eye. Commenting on posts that you find interesting or inspiring is a wonderful way to develop your own playful community.