Melted crayon art is a fun kids art project that boys and girls of all ages can enjoy. It involves heating colored crayons on a canvas (or cardboard) to create a brilliant, rainbow-esque piece of art. Once complete, you can display it in your living room, your kid’s bedroom, or practically anywhere else in the home.
There’s just something magical associated with melted crayons. Kids love the appearance of bright colors blended together in a free-flowing fashion. So if you’re looking for a fun activity to keep your child busy, give this project a shot!
Step #1) Gather Your Supplies
You’ll first need to pick up some basic supplies to create your melted crayon artwork. I recommend using a pack of 64 crayons along with an 18×24 canvas. Of course, you can opt for a smaller canvas and fewer crayons, but 18×24 is a decent size that’s large enough to hang on your walls.
In addition to crayons and a canvas, you’ll also need a hot glue gun and high-powered hairdryer (or heat gun).
Step #2) Prepare The Canvas and Crayons
Being that this is a somewhat messy project, you may want to lay out some old newspapers or drop cloths underneath your canvas. Regardless of how careful you are, there’s always a chance of melted crayon making its way onto your floors.
Take your crayons out of the box and arrange them according to your color preference. One idea is to arrange them from lightest to darkest, or another idea is to mix them randomly together. The crayon arrangement is entirely up to you and your child, so don’t feel pressured into following a specific style. After arranging your crayons, use a hot glue gun to glue them at the top of your canvas facing downwards.
Step #3) Melt The Crayons
Now comes the fun part: melting the crayons. Stand your canvas upright by resting against a box, chair, etc., and slowly run over the crayons using the high-heat setting on your hair dryer. Try to keep the hair dryer pointed downwards so the melted wax will follow a consistent path. Keep running over the crayons with your hair dryer until the melted wax has reached the bottom of the canvas. There’s no need to melt 100% of the crayons, so don’t worry if there’s still some wax left in the original crayons at the top of your canvas.
When you are finished, wait 30-45 minutes for it to fully dry and you’re finished!
For your everyday art activities, check out our selection of art easels and our most popular easel, the Kidkraft Deluxe Wood Easel.