Swirly Stones

1. Each child gathers 1-2 inch smooth stones, washed them and places them on a foil or paper lined cookie sheet.

2. Pre-heat oven to 225 and bake rocks for 15 minutes.

3. Give each child one rock at a time and let them melt crayon wax from old broken crayons on the hot rocks.We learned quickly that Crayola crayons are BEST and have vibrant color whereas cheap crayons are watery. Raise your hand when you are done and get new hot rock!

Even the older children loved it. Camo rocks for the boys. It is neat to see each child's unique artistic interests come through. Some liked one color, others mixed, some made patterns, some pictures.

Some had the word “hot!” reinforced through hands on experience.

I liked this one.

I am so not an artsy type with the children. Cindy P had shown me this craft while we were at the campout and I decided I must try it.

They will hang around the house for a while until I kick them around one too many times, then out the door into the garden they will go. This was a great activity and everyone was asking to do it again. I made it very clear that these rocks were hot and everyone did great, only the 13 yr old got burned. ;) And even at that, they are not hot enough to cause injury. Grace did 5 rocks of her own. Try it!

Cara commented "We've done something very similar with paper! I line an electric griddle w/ foil and then let the kids melt crayon pieces either directly on the foil (pressing paper down over it when they've finished) or place a paper on the foil and draw a melty picture. They love this activity! "