The Foggy Foggy Forest - Crayon Melting Activity {Virtual Book Club for Kids}

Ok...

Now that Halloween is over and that craziness... I finally have had the opportunity to unload pictures from my camera and you know what that means? I finally can contribute my part to the Virtual Book Club for Kids blog hop! Yay! You know, cause the post title didn't hint to that already! :)

I had this idea in my head to do a 'letters of your name' book with crayon and wax paper... Yeah, it didn't work out that way! Instead it just turned into a 'letters of your name' melting crayon activity. Nikolai thought it was cool! That's all I can hope for! :)

First off, Foggy, Foggy Forest is great with the vellum pages! Nikolai loved it! I first wanted to do something with predictions and inference, but just left that to when we were reading the story. He had so much fun 'guessing' what the next page was going to be until we read through it so many times, he was jumping for joy with the next part! Sequencing probably would have been great for this activity too, but alas, the book is back at the library having needed to be returned...

Materials:

• Crayon shavings: I used a crayon sharpener on all our dull crayons, even Nikolai helped a little bit but most of it was done during nap time
• paper: for the letters, I used plain paper but you can use cardstock or any kind you prefer. I had these cut prior
• wax paper
• glue stick (optional): we used this to trace the letters and to keep the crayon shavings to stick to the paper. I shook off excess shavings back onto the rest
• Iron: and board, with which to melt the crayons
• paper towels: to protect your ironing board and iron from the melting wax and dye
• scissors: to cut out the letters
• string/yarn: for stringing the letters to make a banner

Steps:

1. Cut out wax paper big enough to fold over and sandwich the letter. Place the letter down on one side (inside) but do not sandwich yet.

2. We traced the letter with glue, but honestly, following the line with something else (like a finger) works too.) Nikolai giggled, he thought it was funny, but then was really serious! Silly kid!

3. Using pincer fingers, pinch some crayon shavings and place on the letter. Honestly, not much is needed. We barely but some on the letters and I had to iron the melted wax to the edges of the letters and got some on my board, eek! I also tried to keep excess off the wax paper, this is where the glue came in, I just lightly tapped it back onto the plate.

4. Fold over the wax paper to sandwich the letter.

5. Place a paper towel on your board, sandwich on that, then another paper towel. This will not only protect your iron, but your board as well!

6. Press your letter. I do not suggest to actually iron unless you see areas that may need it. just put the iron down, press, lift then move. 

*Nikolai just helped hold the iron, I do not advise to let your child do the ironing. Always watch your children around heated items.

7. Let the letter cool then cut! Nikolai sometimes helped cut by hand-over-hand.

8. If you want to make a banner to display your name, then string them onto yarn or twine. Secure the letter onto it's spot using knots. I haven't done this yet. Cannot decide on yarn or twine as it is going to be decoration for his 3rd birthday in December! 

Even though this did not turn out how I envisioned it in my head, it still came out pretty great. I even used all the crayon shavings with none left over! Nikolai is proud of his name and I need to hurry up and get it hanging. He wants it over his bedroom closet door. That is fine by me! I love that he wants it on display! :)

Thanks for stopping by! Please, check out these other sites contributing to the Book Club. If you have anything you want to share too, feel free to contribute!

There are a few rules for this blog hop that we ask you to follow, so make sure to read them: 

1. Link up only posts inspired by Nick Sharratt that share children's book inspired crafts, activities, recipes, etc. Any other posts will be deleted.
2. Visit other blog posts on the linky and comment on or share the ones you love!

see you next time,