A Valentine's Craft for My Students!

It's that time of year again...and this year, as a wife, I have to plan Valentine's Day for more than just my 20 sweet students, SO I searched for a practical, inexpensive and easy-to-make craft/gift for my students and here's what I came up with!

Last year our school sold these melted crayons and yes, even my 9 and 10 year olds were absolutely crazy about them, so I took this thought and paired it with some of my pinterest finds and created something I think my students are going to love!

As a 4th grade teacher our big push is writing and one of the things I always tell my students about their writing is that it needs to be "colorful" and it needs to reflect and/or impact the world around them. I also am constantly trying to help my students understand that they have the opportunity to leave their mark on the world. With that said, I thought the world-shaped crayons partnered with the saying "Color Your World" was the perfect match for my kiddos!

How did I make these, you might ask?? Check this out...

1. Unwrap several boxes of crayons. (Depending on how many you want to make will depend on how many you should unwrap...for 19 of my world-shaped crayons I unwrapped approximately 3 boxes, or 72 crayons.)

2. Place all of your unwrapped crayons in a zip loc bag and seal it. Place the bag of crayons into a second zip loc bag. Seal this bag as well. Then go find your hammer...that's right, not only is this a cool craft but it's a really practical stress-relief as well!

3. Hammer away! Just be careful not to rip the bag. Even being gentle I tore a couple small holes in my bag.

4. Get out your muffin/cupcake tins (no need to line or grease the tin, the crayons will come out easily) and pour the broken pieces into each cup, adding more pieces for a thicker, sturdier crayon and less pieces for a thinner crayon. I filled mine a little less than half way. This will make the crayons last longer and they will not easily break.

5. Pop those muffin tins into the oven at 250 degrees for approximately 10 minutes.

6. Let them sit on the counter for about 30 minutes to an hour.

7. Then flip over the muffin tins and tap the bottoms of each tin lightly with a hammer. I laid down a beach towel on my counter to ensure a safe landing (and no broken crayons, lol)! My crayons really didn't turn out this brown, I think it's just the coloring of my counter top that is making them look that way.

8. Finally, trace your circles on cardstock and cut them out. One dot of hot glue will secure the crayon to the cardstock, then add whatever words you'd like!

That's right, it's as simple (and fun) as that!

-Kristy