Muffin Tin Crayons

A long time ago I read somewhere about using all those old, unwanted crayons in the bottom of the crayon basket. It was suggested to take the crayons and turn them into muffin tin crayons. So, we tried it today and I have to say I like how they turned out! I googled the activity just to be sure we were doing it right - we followed the directions from this site.

First, you have your children gather up all the extra old crayons they can find (this stage took my kids about 15 minutes).

Then, (and this is the time consuming part) have them peel all the paper off the crayons. I left my two on the sofa watching Electric Company and I went to take a shower and get dressed. They were still peeling when I got back - so I helped them finish.

Does this count as fine motor practice for my kindergartner?

Once we were finished I would say we had about forty crayons, which we then broke into thirds (or thereabouts!).

We then put the crayons into muffin tins, being sure to put about 1/4 tsp. of vegetable oil in the bottom of each tin.

After baking them at 275 degrees for about 8 minutes, this is what it looked like (after the kids had stirred them gently with a toothpick)

We ate our lunch while the crayons cooled, and then just turned the tins over and tapped them - the crayons fell right out! Here's what they all looked like:

This one was Miss B's favorite because it had part of an old glitter crayon in it:

All in all, a cute activity - let me know if you try it and like it!

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Enjoying the Birds

I will be the first one to admit I am NOT an artist. I can be very creative when it comes to scrapbooking, and fun craft projects for the kids, but as far as teaching my children about the elements of art and good artistry I am very inept! So, I have been thrilled that my daughter is taking art lessons with a wonderful woman who is a talented artist. The past two weeks they have been working on painting Chickadees - and I love the way this masterpiece turned out!

It is especially timely since it is now spring and we are watching all of the beautiful birds from our deck. Last night my son called me outside to see the Cardinal in the backyard - he was so proud that he had identified the bird, and I was more proud that he had the courtesy to be quiet and observe the bird rather than stomp loudly and scare it away! We have yet to see hummingbirds come to the feeder, but I understand they are on the way! We did a little hummingbird research, and I think we're doing all the right things, just no hummingbirds yet! At our local garden store they sell little feeders that hang right in your potted plant (we chose Begonias), so we didn't spend a lot of money and it's not too much to keep up with.

We have also ordered Painted Lady butterflies/caterpillars and they should be coming any day now. We caught some caterpillars of our own yesterday, but we don't have a guarantee they will turn into butterflies, and not moths. It is things like this that I wanted to do with my children, but never thought we had "time" for because of school! Isn't that ironic? I don't think we ever would have taken the time to enjoy God's creation quite as much as we do being at home every day. The blessings of homeschool pop up every day - God's sign to me that we are doing the right thing!