Summer Art Project using broken Crayons

It is SOOOO HOT around here. It's been over 100 daily for most of a month with more to come. It's too hot to play outside, so I came up with an idea for just a quick activity outside that would allow the assailing sun to do the work.


First, I collect broken crayons for such a time as this. You never know how you can use them. Leave rubbings come to mind.  Also, I think it would be really cool to do this --------->


We went outside and put pieces of broken crayon in an abstract design on paper. We broke them into smaller pieces if we needed to do so or just left the how the were.

Now, one thing we did wrong was to wait until late afternoon to make them. Start off earlier in the day and consider the fact that you may still need to wait until the next day depending on the location. More sun during the day and the faster the crayons will melt. Also, consider the breeze and place some stones on the corners to keep the paper from blowing away. Trust me, we learned this the hard way.
Warning: Any crayons left on the sidewalk, driveway, etc, will melt on the sidewalk, driveway, etc. Not so easy to to clean up.


Here's a look at one of the final products as modeled by the diva.

What I thought was interesting was that not all the crayons melted in the same way. Mija thought it looked like a Jackson Pollack whom she has liked since a library activity we attended awhile back.

Well, that's how we handled one scorching afternoon. How have you been doing art this summer?

Source: flickr.com via Betsy Price on Pinterest