new to project play? you can read how we got started here or just jump in!

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i was *so* excited for this project because this was something i had never done before. all you have to do is peel the paper from some crayons {kind of tedious}, heat up plates, and then draw…the heated plates melt the crayons and you have magic! the crayons melt and ooze together and create some great art.

i thought using heated cookie sheets would make for a larger/better canvas but they just don’t retain heat like a plate does so it didn’t work well at all. once we tried the plates, it was perfection. my older kids had a day off from school and N was napping so i decided to give this a shot with M and my 5 year old, L. i heated our plates in the oven at 350 degrees. they were VERY hot. this isn’t an activity i’d try with younger kiddos. but the boys had a great time with this {it was quite fun for Mom, too!} i actually used all of our plates and they still wanted more!

clean up…well, i’m not gonna lie…scrubbing layers of melted crayon off of 10+ plates is just about as fun as it sounds. not to mention, I had some pretty unhappy kids when they realized I scrubbed their artwork off of the plates so we could eat lunch. haha! really though, the scrubbing was worth it. this is a really fun, unique activity!

this was the best, most simple project we’ve done. the boys loved it. i loved it. it was easy, and it’s a project i {and you too!} will always, ALWAYS have on hand. rebecca was right, the most tedious part was peeling the paper off the crayons…SUPER tedious if you live somewhere hot like we do, and the paper was melted {hot glued} to the crayons. i busted out a kitchen knife, slit the side and popped off the paper…boom! way, WAY faster 🙂

we heated our plates in the microwave…even at a mere minute and a half the plates were hot enough to melt the crayons, but not hot enough to burn exploring fingers…definitely recommend this heating method with littler guys/gals!

clean up was…procrastinated 🙂 not looking forward to scrubbing them, i let the plates soak in the sink for an hour or two…thanks to that, the crayon came right off, woot!

a super fun, easy activity that just melted our afternoon away {insert cheesy laugh to accompany cheesy pun}

{sunshine spent more time being silly and perfecting his evil grin than actually melting crayons}

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i’ve heard from some of you that you too have hopped on the project play train…i’m super excited about that! if you’re ridin’ this train, leave a comment below sharing your experience or leave a link so WE can follow YOU!

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and really quick, because it’s important to give credit where credit is due…i wanted to point out that some of our project play projects were inspired by other bloggers. you can see the sources here.

until we play again!

xoxo,

stacey * rebecca

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