A Colorfully Insightful Book & Recycled Crayon Letters!
After reading Natascha Biebow’s “The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons” & engaging in The Masterpiece Alphabet Curriculum for Letter C, we decided to make homemade Recycled Crayon Letters & Crayon Wrapper Confetti Art! I’m excited to walk you through how we made both, so let’s get started…
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Summary of “The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons”
“The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons” by Natascha Biebow and illustrated by Steven Salerno is a great Picture Book Biography about Edwin Binney and his cousin C. Harold Smith who created the amazing Crayola crayons we all know and love. Colorful, playful, & detailed illustrations walk you through the crayon inventing process. The story also covers how Binney & Smith named their crayons “Crayola”!
In the back of the book the provide a step by step guide of “How Crayola Crayons are Made Today” complete with photographs, as well as, an authors note on Edwin Binney. Definitely recommended.
The Masterpiece Alphabet Curriculum – Letter C
I was gifted a wonderful curriculum called “The Masterpiece Alphabet Curriculum” by Alexandra from themasterpiecestudio.com that covers both the alphabet and the elements of art! I only post about books & activities we genuinely like and this curriculum is truly amazing & worth many mentions!
I’m not one for following a set curriculum in our homeschooling. We definitely identify more as unschoolers; and my daughters least favorite thing is any type of worksheet. So I was very pleasantly surprised when I opened up the pdf file to find a very full, multifaceted approach to learning about art while reinforcing the alphabet at the same time. As you work your way through the alphabet this curriculum offers book suggestions, sensory letter tracing, hands on crafts, recipes, felt or embroidered letter making & more!
The Masterpiece Alphabet Curriculum has links to many different tutorials and read aloud’s. But the absolute best part is the super helpful & timesaving QR code she put on each letter lesson page! Just open your camera, point it at the QR code on the printout and bam all the links at your fingertips to click and engage with!
I’m sure you can tell I could go on and on about this terrific curriculum but you should really go check it out. The first lesson “A is for Artist” is generously available for FREE to sample!!! You can see our Letter A post HERE & our Letter B post HERE.
We’re currently working on “C is for Crayon” which is why we read “The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons”, watched a video showing how crayons are made, a tutorial on making classic recycled crayons, & created our own Recycled Crayon Letters using our favorite alphabet silicone molds, as well as, Crayon Wrapper Confetti Art!
How We made Recycled Crayon Letters…
We tend to keep the activities as simple as possible around here. We’re not interested in complicated or costly. We are also all about fostering independence. For this activity we decided to make homemade Recycled Crayons following the video tutorial provided by The Masterpiece Alphabet Curriculum “C is for Crayons”. However, instead of using a metal muffin tin, we chose to make Recycled Crayon Letters using our favorite silicone Alphabet Letter molds! Next, being in recycling mode we couldn’t see throwing away the crayon wrappers, so we turned it into confetti art!
Recycled Crayon Letters are a spin on the classic melted recycled crayons you might have made as a kid. First, we looked for crayons that were older & used but realized we had already used those to do THIS creative bookish play and another time when we created melted crayon pumpkin art. Anyway, that didn’t stop us, at the beginning of every school year we always get a few boxes of Crayola Crayons since they’re $0.50 a box!
We unwrapped the crayons, which I have to say from experience is MUCH easier with Crayola Crayons than any other brand! No, this is not a sponsored post for Crayola lol, just love them. We decided to save the wrapper scraps, so we set them aside.
Next, we cut up the crayons into little pieces using a knife. This all takes time, but I see that as an opportunity for engaging in conversation and just hanging out crafting. So keep in mind, you might want to split these tasks up throughout the week, or set aside a large block of family crafting time!
Lastly, we got out our alphabet silicone molds, placed the crayon bits into the letters, & placed the silicone molds on a cookie tray in the preheated oven. Once the crayons were melted, we took them out of the oven to cool. Then came the fun parts, carefully taking them out of the silicone molds & coloring with them!
How we made Crayon Wrapper Confetti Art?
Super simple and oh so colorful! If the wrappers came off in large pieces you can tear them into smaller ones. Then add glue to the paper where you want the crayon wrapper confetti to stick & either sprinkle it on or place it one by one. We used our crayon wrapper confetti to fill in the letter “C” printable that comes with the Masterpiece Alphabet Curriculum. You can do the same if you have the curriculum, or create your own unique work of art!
Wait?!? Am I Supposed To Be Making One Too?
I highly recommend getting hands on and doing art projects with your child. If you’d rather not, thats okay too, but please do not correct anything they do. If you want the art to look a certain way – make your own.
Especially if your child is little, its okay if it doesn’t turn out the way you imagined. Maybe its what they imagined. Also, its a process. They are learning. They will learn more through trial and error than if you correct them or do it for them. All they will learn if you “help” is that they didn’t do a good enough job on their own or they can’t do it; not exactly the message you want to give your kid. Am I right?!?
Believe me, I know it can be really challenging to let them make “mistakes”. Try doing the project along side them. It will allow you to focus on your own work, give them appropriate modeling of how to use the materials, and show them that you like art too! A lot of what I talk about in “What about the Sensory Mess?” applies to Art projects as well, you might wanna check it out! I love how each art has its own identity. I would suggest making Recycled Crayon Letters if you’re looking for a memory making classic art activity to connect with your child.
Materials We Used
- “The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons” book (from the library or buy it HERE)
- Crayola Crayons
- A Knife
- Alphabet Silicone Molds
- A Cookie Sheet
- Glue
Click HERE for Free Printable copy (Email Subscribers Only)
How We Made Recycled Crayon Letters & Crayon Wrapper Confetti Art?
- Open the box of Crayola Crayons.
- Choose which colors you’d like to use. You could choose 2 different colors together in the same letter spot for a marbled effect, or you could choose similar shades of the same color to create a solid colored letter.
- Unwrap the crayons you wish to melt, keep the wrapper bits.
- Cut the crayons into small pieces that will fit in the alphabet mold.
- Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees Fahrenheit.
- It will probably only take about 5 minutes for the crayons to be melted.
- Take them out of the oven, let them cool completely before removing them from the alphabet molds.
- While you’re waiting for the recycled crayon letters to cool, you could take out your Masterpiece Alphabet letter “C” or a blank piece of paper and some glue (we used a glue stick).
- We filled in the Masterpiece Alphabet letter “C” with our crayon wrapper confetti, you can do the same if you have the curriculum, or create your own original artwork using the crayon wrappers!
Click HERE for Free Printable copy (Email Subscribers Only)
Wait, There’s More…
I believe you can easily strengthen communication skills and foster independence all while playing and connecting with your child. To help you do this; I’ve created a FREE printable for each activity called, “Communicating & Connecting”.
It will give you a list of suggestions I’ve found very helpful as a Mom & as a special education teacher; to help you build lifelong skills. Please don’t feel obligated to do everything on the list (but if you do, you’re a rockstar 😉 ).
As a Thank You for subscribing; this is a special FREEBIE for our Email Subscribers Only. 🙂 Click here if you’ve already subscribed. Otherwise, Sign Up below to get the password & access to our entire FREE Printables Library today! 😉
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