145) Melted Crayon Rocks

Over the hoilday break we were very excited to have my neice come and spend the night. We had plans to take her out to breakfast and then take all the girls to do something fun. The weather had other plans for us, we woke up to a snowy/sleety/icy mess. So after a nice breakfast at home I went to check our craft supplies to see if I could find a project that would be fun for a 9, 4 and 2 year old. I found a bag of stones and remembered seeing these beautiful melted crayon rocks on the Artful Parent, so I thought we would give them a try.

The process was very easy, wash the stones off (the Bean's favorite kind of job) then place the stones on a tinfoil lined baking sheet in a 350 degree oven. I set the table up with three kitchen towels, each covered with a piece of tinfoil and in the middle of the table a box of old crayons. I then carefully removed a few rocks at a time with an oven mitt and put them on the girls tinfoil placemts. I made sure to explain that the rocks were really hot. Maybe even over reminded them not to touch the rocks, either way they were really good about not touching them. We all watched in amazement as the crayons quickly and easily begin to melt on contact with the rock. The colors oozed all over, blended together and created beautiful pools of color. The girls were hooked, each making several rocks, experimenting with different colors and techniques. My niece tried out drawing on the crayons and then putting them in the oven. They also played around with letting the stones cool a little and then going back into the cooled wax. Both my husband and I got into the action and I have to say making these is pretty addictive. Both of us were still sitting there making rocks even after all the kids had moved on to something else. We will definitley be making these again, although the rocks I had this time were mostly dark black/gray, next time I would like to find a lighter colored stone. The dark stones worked fine but I think the colors would be even more vibrant on a lighter color stone. I also wonder if it would be possible to do this in the summer with stones that have been sitting out in the sun. Has anyone ever tried that?