August 3, 2006 | For the kids, Quick Tips
Wow, I had no idea that my crayon wisdom would strike such a chord with all of you. But really, why is this surprising? You are My People. You Get It. And of course, y’all are pretty. Naturally we agree about the superiority of Crayolas.
As long as you’re all feeling the love with me, let me throw something else out there for you: I’ve mentioned that I stock extra toys in the gift closet and each Christmas I grab up a carload to take to Toys For Tots. But they are not my favorite holiday charity. My very favorite Yuletide activity is putting together shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. Check it out if you haven’t; it’s a wonderful outreach to bring school supplies, hygiene items and the holiday spirit (translation: some toys) to kids who might not otherwise have them.
I love it because it’s very varied yet doable; you fill a shoebox with as much as you can cram in there. The kids each do a box (with my help) and I do a box (or two) and it’s always a lot of fun. I like to play “how many tiny toys can I cram in here and then fill all the holes with lollipops,” myself, but you know how I am.
So. Why am I telling you this now? See those $.20 crayons, $.10 notebooks, etc.? Pick up extras. You’ll need them in December, and at pennies on the dollar, you can afford to be generous.
August 3rd, 2006 at 2:12 pm
Bravo idea. I really enjoy putting together shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child as well.
August 3rd, 2006 at 2:30 pm
Thanks! You just gave me the much-needed justification to buy school supplies, even tho’ my oldest is only four and we are homeschooling! And we already have about 5 bazillion crayons (Crayola, of course) due to my long-time and slightly embarrassing coloring addiction. Honestly, I’ve been trying to think of an excuse to destroy (preferably by melting) the old-but-perfectly-good Crayolas so that I’ll have a legitimte excuse to purchase new ones. (I know, it’s sad, and wrong in so many ways…)
Now, thanks to your delicate beauty, I can stop plotting against the old crayons AND still buy new ones without hanging my head in shame!
August 3rd, 2006 at 3:11 pm
To SheBear— what about melting down the old crayons into new multi colored crayons for your kids to color with.
If you wanted to get real into it you could even do a blue crayon with different shades of blue (that could be fun for coloring oceans) and a green crayon with different shade of green (ooh neat trees) and so on and so forth. Or just make a juble of colors, I know when I was little we had crayons like that and I loved them.
directions I found online…
Patchwork Crayons
1. Remove the paper from the crayons and place various colors in a non-stick muffin pan. Fill the muffin cup up only a quarter of the way.
2. Place in the oven and bake on a low temperature setting until all of the crayons have melted.
3. Let cool and then pop the wax out.
August 3rd, 2006 at 3:52 pm
I have also melted down crayons using the microwave and put them into shaped ice cube trays to make fun shaped crayons in multi colors for gift boxes or stocking stuffers.
Another great idea is to melt them down into a heart shaped mini cake pan and then wait till it’s cool enough to touch. Have your child press their hand print into the center to make a hand mold. Place in the freezer till solid and pop it from the pan. Then you have a multicolored piece of artwork on your hands. I usually attach a hanger to the back and hang in a cool place in the house.
If your kids use a crayola sharpener you can keep the shavings in a zip lock baggie then poor them between a sheet of wax paper and newspaper and iron them slightly. Shapes can be cut out with safety scizzors and used for scrapbooking.
For more great crayola ideas visit http://www.crayola.com/educators/techniques/meltedcrayon.cfm
And no I’m not a sponsor and I don’t work there- I just have a lot of Godkids.
August 3rd, 2006 at 3:55 pm
that link doesn’t work. But this one does: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/OCC_PackAShoeBox.asp
Thanks for the idea! I’m going to take it to my professional group for our Christmas charity this year.
August 3rd, 2006 at 4:19 pm
OH MY GOODNESS! Mir, I was going to mention Operation Christmas Child to you a few weeks ago!!
Operation Christmas Child is great on so many levels: 1. You can help out children around the globe, 2. You can collect stuff year around, like the aforementioned school supplies or little hotel bars of soap, 3. It is so easy, 4. You teach your children about giving, and last but not least, 5. It is a GREAT way to get rid of those (unopened) crappy plastic Happy Meal toys! I usually say to my son “Hey, you already have that toy” (oops, does that mean we go too often?) or “It’s a girl toy” or just guilt him outright by saying “how about we give that to a child who gets no toys for Christmas??”. I have a big box in a closet where I just collect new items, and then come early November, we dig it out and get some boxes going. It is a great, great, great program!!! Be sure to check out their website for the requirements.
August 3rd, 2006 at 4:19 pm
Another fun thing to do with crayons to use them up is something I found in Family Fun magazine. We tested it out last week with the neighborhood kids and it was a hit. Heat some rocks in the oven (or with the heat we have been having here, maybe just the heat from outside?) After they are hot, touch crayons to them to make “tie-dye” rocks from the melting crayons. The kids think it is super cool, just make sure you don’t touch the rock with your finger or you’ll burn yourself.
August 3rd, 2006 at 4:34 pm
[...] I can see you’re feeling it Wow, I had no idea that my crayon wisdom would strike such a chord with all of you. But really, why is this surprising? You are My People. You Get It…Source: I can see you’re feeling it - Kids [Feed] [...]
August 3rd, 2006 at 5:56 pm
My 19-year-old still colors with Crayola Crayons. She loves them almost as much as she loves Adobe PhotoShop, and that says a lot. I never throw away crayons; old but usable crayons go to school with me (I’m a teacher) to keep in my “extras” box. If a child loses a crayon, he/she can grab one from my ever-growing box.
August 3rd, 2006 at 7:17 pm
Fabulous Idea - I’ll stock up now for this project come Christmas time - the kids will love doing this for others - thanks for sharing
August 3rd, 2006 at 7:54 pm
THANK YOU for the reminder! We’ve done that the last two years, and I can’t believe I didn’t think of it!
August 3rd, 2006 at 8:12 pm
don’t forget the teachers when you see these awesome deals on crayons, pencils, and such. teachers can either use them in the classroom or pass them along to children who can’t afford their own school supplies. our elementary school has a “sharing closet” which is stocked with pencils, paper, crayons, etc. if the teacher knows of a child who can’t afford their own things, the teacher can get the supplies from the sharing closet. when the lunch boxes and back packs go on sale, we scoop up those too. our school gets children from a women’s shelter. they usually come only with the clothes on their backs. you should see their faces when they get a brand new backpack filled with supplies.
August 3rd, 2006 at 10:12 pm
Thank you for mentioning Operation Christmas Child. I learned about them through MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and they are such a wonderful organization. So wonderful in fact that they are the only organization that MOPS encourages mothers to contribute to. Thanks for the reminider to stock up now for our boxes.
August 4th, 2006 at 9:30 am
Thanks for the link, we’ll be filling one (or five) up this year! And it’s a perfect excuse to go supply shopping again (I love me some office stores).