Melted Crayon Drawings
I’ve been looking for a way for my kids to play with melted crayons for a while now.
The idea of sitting for hours with a hair dryer watching crayons melt didn’t thrill me, so we tried something a little different. We used an electric fry pan on a low setting and had loads of fun creating melted crayon drawings.
Melted Crayon Drawings
What you need…
Electric fry pan (or another surface that gets evenly warm but not super hot)
Tin Foil
Paper – we used cheap A4 printer paper.
Crayons
Somewhere to place your drawings till they cool and dry.
What to do…
We still use our fry pan for cooking food so just to be sure we didn’t ruin it we covered it with foil first.
Set the fry pan on the lowest heat setting and place a piece of paper in the fry pan and allow it to warm up.
When the fry pan and the paper is warm but not super hot then you can draw!
While our fry pan never got hot enough to burn anyone who happened to bump into the side by accident, the kids were all very careful and I set them up so that they were a good deal higher than the fry pan so they weren’t trying to lift their arms over the hot sides. My nine year olds and five year old were all careful and confident enough to do this activity safely, and while the toddler really wanted a turn, he was happy enough with drawing on ‘warm’ paper on the table instead.
Drawing slowly on the warm paper the crayons melted easily as you made your marks. It was lots of fun just to swirl the crayons over the paper and feel how they glided as they melted. It was fun to mix colours and vary the speed of drawing to get thin not so melted lines or think really gooey lines.
The only draw back to this activity was that we only have one electric fry pan so we all had to wait, patiently, for our next turn.
The wax seemed to seep into the paper leaving a translucent ring around the colours, so the drawings looked lovely taped to the window to let the light shine through.
This was such an enjoyable process that I am making plans to have a go on my own one night when the kids are in bed… and of course they are already asking to do it again too!
Oooh check out this post from Dilly-Dali Art… they had a go at this activity too and also drew straight on the foil! Very Cool!
Oh I just love this! I too have been wanting to do something with melted crayons but hadn’t decided yet. This is great! Plus, I only have 1 child of the age to do this activity so the only person she has to compete with is me, haha. Thanks for sharing, it’s such a clever way to do it!
I think I loved this activity even more than my kids, so your girl may have to wait a while so you can ‘test’ it first! LOL
It makes a similar effect to your post using sharpies on foil. I must say that this looks like so much fun and how smart of you to think of doing it this way. No mess, woot!
What a fabulous idea, I would never have thought of melting crayons this way……genius!!
Wow, you are creative, doing that would never have occurred to me. I might try it when my niece comes to visit again.
These turned out great and sound a lot more appealing than the hair dryer method! Love the end product and it teaches kids a bit about safety too.
Yes… it was a fairly ‘safe’ way to teach them about being careful of the hot fry pan. My older kids (5, 9 and 9) cook with a fry pan on the stove often so know how to manage that safely, but this electric one has quite high sides and is different to manage so was a great way for them to test it out.
These look amazing. Lucky I have two electric frypans, downside I have four kids so we will still be sharing.
Drawing with melted crayons is one of my girls’ favorite way to use crayons! In fact, we only have crayons in our cupboard so we can melt them, lol
Lovely results with the oil seeping through the thinner paper. We use watercolor paper when we do this activity and also draw directly onto the foil but I like the suncatcher effect :)
I must confess that regular crayons never found much love in our house… until now!
I wondered about drawing directly on the foil and maybe even printing it from foil to paper? Have you got a blog post about your exploration with this activity? Would love to add it to my post if you do. :)
I sure do have a post about it, thanks for asking! Here it is
http://www.dillydaliart.com/2012/02/melted-crayon-drawing-on-griddle.html
Also, I think Melissa from The Chocolate Muffin Tree has a post about printing melted crayon from foil to paper
i never would have thought to melt crayons that way…looks like lots of fun!
Such a cool idea (or hot!) :) Pinned it.
I had been wanting to do this also (after spending time doing the hairdryer version) though wasn’t sure what to use to protect the heater or even what to use as the heating plate. Not sure how I will go with a 2.5 yr old who stands a meter away from anything “hot” but I am going to try it all thanks to you. Love love love, your kiddos drawings!
What an amazing idea! I am sure I can try this with Aarya when he is a little older, but I am tempted to try it by myself, it looks like so so much fun.
I LOVE this. Will be pinning…
Hi,
I have done a similar activity for decades. I use a warming tray on the lowest setting. I use wax paper and wax paper bags.. I am not sure if they still sell the bags. My son and a friend did a social studies project making 30 bags with a different flag on each one. They won a prize, too. It was beautiful.
Have fun.
I loove theese I am trying it on fabric I think theyll be permanent
These are just great. Love the rich bright colours. My boy isn’t that keen on crayons, he’d rather big thick bright markers so this would be a hit with him for sure. I must try it :-)
What a great idea. We’re you not worried of kids burning themselves tough? lots of love xx
This is awesome!! I will definitely try this with my daughter!! :) Thanks for sharing!!
I do this with a warming tray covered with newspaper.
TIP: Have your child use an oven mitten or regular mitten/glove so they do not burn themselves.
I love this idea. I search for ways to recycle anything. I have a disabled son, and we make greeting cards. This may be our next adventure on the cards! Thanks for the idea!!