Melted Crayon Art Using Hot Rocks!

This melted crayon art project was one of my FAVORITE crafts for kids…ever.

It is the perfect mix of art and science. The really cool thing is that it is one of 60+ easy crafts for kids in a new book, Red Ted Art by our dear friend, Maggy Woodley! A few months ago we interviewed Maggy from Red Ted Art and highlighted some of our favorite kids craft ideas.

Oh! And the book is being released today!

Melted Crayon Art

So, let’s get back to melting crayons! The Red Ted Art book is full of really easy and fun activities like this one. When I saw this melted crayon art project, I knew we had to try it ASAP.

My 7 year old son agreed.

The first thing we did was to go outside and collect the main part of our art project…

How to Melt Crayons

Find Rocks – This was a bit of a scavenger hunt in our yard. We wanted to find rocks that were smooth and large enough that they could be used as a paper weight.
Wash Rocks – Our rocks were dirty, so we had a little rock wash in the kitchen sink. Each was dried after it went through our cleaning process.
Bake Rocks – We set the rocks on a baking sheet and into the oven at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. I suspect other temperatures and times would work great too!
Peel Crayons – While our rocks were baking, we peeled the colors that we wanted to use. In many cases, they were already broken. If not, we broke a few so we had some smaller fragments.
Spread Hot Rocks on Newspaper – Using an oven mitt {ADULT SUPERVISION OR COMPLETION NEEDED}, place the hot rocks {and they are HOT!} onto multiple layers of newspaper or magazine pages.
ROCKS ARE HOT – Just a reminder that the rocks are hot and depending on the age of the child, they may need additional reminding and supervision!
Melt Crayons – This is the fun part. Just setting a crayon fragment on the top of a hot rock will melt it into a beautiful pool of color. Use longer crayon pieces to “color” melted wax onto the rock surface. Finding an oven mitt for kids to use during this process may be helpful as well. We layered the colors and watched the melting crayon magic appear before our eyes.
Let Cool – Our rocks took an hour or two to cool and then they can be handled.

We LOVED this project. Our rocks are stunningly cool. My boys can’t wait to do this again.

I think this would make a really sweet child-made gift for a relative. If you are going to use them as a paper weight or art object, I would suggest adding felt pads on the underside. If some of the color melted under the rock, it can leave color marks just like loose crayons do!

Thanks Maggie for this inspiration. We love your new book, Red Ted Art, and can’t wait to try another on of your crafts for kids!

If you like this melted crayon art project, we also have a cool {or warm} melted crayon art wall project.

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