Melted Crayon Heart

What You Do

1. Help your child load the glue stick into the glue gun.
2. Let him very carefully plug the glue gun into the wall.
3. Allow the glue gun to heat completely.
4. Let your child set the poster board on a flat surface.
5. Help him arrange the crayons by color, following the order of the colors he sees in a rainbow. (If he needs some review on rainbows and the order of their colors, have him check out this Rainbow worksheet.)
6. Now have your child use a pencil to draw a heart in the center of his posterboard. Explain to him that you will be fanning each of the crayons around this outline, crayon tips facing out.
7. Use the heated glue gun to carefully place a single strip of glue along the edge of each crayon.
8. As you finish applying glue onto each crayon, hand it carefully to your child. Have him place the crayon firmly on the poster board, glue-side facing down. Make sure that the end of the crayon touches the outline of the penciled heart.
9. Repeat this process until the penciled heart is completely surrounded by crayons.
10. Allow the glue to dry for at least an hour.
11. Have your child set the cloth sheet beneath a wall. (This craft can get messy. If you don't want to risk ruining your carpets, complete the rest of the project outside.)
12. Let him lean the poster board against the wall. Make sure the cloth sheet is spread out all around the poster board.
13. Plug in the hair dryer and turn it to its highest setting.
14. Turn on the hair dryer, and show your child how to direct the hot air right at the crayons around the bottom of the penciled heart. Keep the hair dryer just a few inches away from the crayons.
15. Once the crayon wax begins to splutter and spray down towards the cloth sheet, turn off the hair dryer.
16. Have him turn the poster board on its side, so that the left side ofthe heart is facing down.
17. This time, let your child take over the hair dryer duties. Supervise him as he shoots the air only at the crayons closest to the ground.
18. Wait for the wax to drip down before turning off the hair dryer again.
19. Continue this process for the remaining two sides of the poster board. When he's done, he should have a heart-shaped artistic wonder!