Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Fall crafts

I love to do crafts with my kids - especially when they are not messy ones.  When I was growing up (not sure exactly where I got the idea from - maybe from a kids show called Take Part?) I would do this activity with waxed paper and crayons...it involved shaving the crayons (using a Popsicle stick or your nail) - then you would take the shavings and put it between waxed paper; then you would iron the top of the waxed paper and the crayon shavings, being wax, would melt from the heat making neat designs. You could then hang them in the window, or put them on the wall etc.

I remember doing this, but adding in leaves and with Mr. J being 5, I thought it would be a great time to do this craft. One of the things I love about it: it gets you outside! Take the kids on a nature walk and find the best leaves you can (it doesn't matter how many you have) You can spend lots of time outdoors, hiking the trails or even just going in your own backyard.


Mr. J organizing his craft

Another great thing, you can do it in 2 parts if you want. Young kids love to hunt for things, so hunting for leaves and then saving the craft for a rainy day works well too!

While the kids are at the table organizing their "pictures" the way they want it, you can set the iron up in a safe spot. Once the leaves are organized the way they want them, add in the crayon shavings (don't put too many in one spot, and not close to the edges or they will leak out).

Once they have everything how they like it, carefully place another sheet of wax paper (or fold the one your using in half if you want) and take it to your ironing surface.  I like to start out with a tea towel over top to help smooth it out a little, and once I have made 2 or 3 passes around the surface, I remove it and iron directly on the top sheet of waxed paper. The heat from the iron seals the waxed paper, and melts the crayons...

The boys finished products 

We now have lots of leaves left to make more (we gave some to their grandparents at Thanksgiving, and I have one hanging in my front window)


13 comments:

  1. we love doing crafts with fall leaves lovely post

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  2. So pretty - hanging in the front window is a really good idea. The leaves are sure falling today, boy it is windy out there.

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  3. What a neat craft!

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  4. We just did some fall crafts the other day....so fun!! And that is such a neat craft you did, something I haven't tried yet with the kids :)

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    1. I would love to read about your crafts! I am always on the hunt for new ideas

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  5. Great idea. I'm always looking for fun crafts to do with my children. I need to make note of this one! It's simple and easy!

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    1. very simple and relatively mess free (except for the crayon shavings - but you can always do that ahead of time so they just need to pick the shavings out of a bowl)

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  6. Oh, I love this! I need to do this with Little One :) Thanks for sharing.

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  7. Gorgeous! What a cool idea. We used to do something similar with used up crayons when I was little.I think I need to borrow an iron!

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    1. my mom hated it - I often did it and ended up with crayon ON her iron.....oops

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