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I am so excited to share how to make your own melted crayon art! Children love this project because of the beautiful color palette that it creates in the end! It’s also a great experiment to introduce concepts and words like melting points, pigments, and waxes.

I’ve been wanting to do this project for a long time! It was a lot of fun and super easy to carry out with some recycled broken crayons.

Check out how we made our own melted crayon art below!

Supplies Needed:

• Canvas (we used 11” x 14”)
• Broken, unwrapped crayons
• Elmers glue
• Hair dryer

Directions:

1. Glue each crayon to the top of the canvas. We placed ours in a rainbow pattern.
2. Let the glue dry. This took up to an hour for us with Elmer’s glue.
3. Arrange the canvas upright so that the crayons point towards the empty space.
4. Turn on your hair dryer and direct the heat onto the crayons evenly. The crayons will begin to melt and the color will drip and flow downwards onto the canvas. Your melted crayon art will begin to show! (Caution: The hair dryer will get hot!)

Be sure to watch children during this experiment to guarantee their safety!

Tips for Easy Clean Up:

Follow these tips to guarantee easy clean up:

1. Lay down a tarp under your work space.
2. On the hair dryer, use the high heat and low blow functions to avoid splatter.
3. Point the blow dryer at the top of the crayons, not the tips.

Where’s the Science in Melted Crayon Art?

Crayons are made of paraffin wax and pigments. As the crayon is heated, the paraffin wax reaches its melting point and begins to melt. The pigments flow in the wax and leave a beautiful array of colors down the canvas! Watch as some of the colors mix together to form new colors or patterns of color. As the crayons cool, they will harden. You will be left with a beautiful, colorful piece of melted crayon art on the canvas!

If you want to learn more about the history on the invention of Crayola Crayons, check out my Reading STEMs Learning book review on the book entitled, ‘The Crayon Man’. Check out my other crayon books and activities here!

-Kristen