Upcycle Crayons Using the Sun

It feels like we had a very fast spring here in Arkansas and like it is almost warm enough to call it summer more than a month early. It’s probably not really warm enough to do this experiment, but it might be fun to try it every couple of weeks and see when it is finally hot enough to melt crayons with the sun.

Muddy Boots and Diamonds used the power of the sun to recycle crayons into different melted shapes. If you have silicone molds of different shapes you can use them for this project, too (I have a set of alphabet letters I have used to make upcycled crayons, but I used the oven.

It might be fun to turn this into a science experiment where you ask kids if they think the sun can melt crayons and to test out different places where the crayons might melt more or less quickly: in full sun versus shade, inside a car or under a glass versus on a windowsill, for example.

Have you ever melted crayons in the sun? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Muddy Boots and Diamonds.]

Check out our Online store for special buys on Educational gifts We find bulk items and end-of-stock supplies to bring you heavily discounted items. (make sure you check our store often so you don’t miss out on new stock). We also have some free printable files, including a Science PDF for learning about Microscopes.

It’s the time of the year to start bringing a little Halloween fun into every lesson plan you can, so here are some ideas for witch themed math activities your kids are sure to love.

Practice symmetry skills with this witch hat counting game from Friends Art Lab. Kids can stick stickers of the same type on each side of the hat, then count how many total, how many of each type, etc. And you end up with a cute piece of art to boot.

Frugal Mom Eh has a number of witch themed worksheets including a connect the dots, label the witch and Halloween themed scattergories. But the one that caught my eye was the witch’s leg coloring page, which is a color by the answer to the math problem.

Nurtured Neurons has a cute witch counting came where you match the witch to the number of bubbles coming out of her cauldron. This one requires membership in their community but you might be able to get a free preview.

The witches brew on a ten frame activity from Miniature Masterminds is a cute one to work on one to one correspondence. Use little erasers or buttons if you want to reuse the cards, or add stickers to match the number on the card, which adds a fine motor skill component.

The Teacher Bag has a cute Halloween counting game kids can use to make their own potion in a little cauldron. You could make your own version with all the little Halloween themed bits you have handy, and either make a spinner like theirs or just write out some recipes and have kids go through the bigger cauldron to find all the ingredients they need. Then count them up! This post from Pocket of Preschool has a similar idea you can use with their printable or make your own with whatever items you have on hand.

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