Crayon Making

Today we decided to experiment with crayons! Miss Leslie recently purchased a crayon making machine and so we decided to put it to good use! We sorted our old, broken crayons into groups and then placed them in the machine and patiently waited for them to melt. Then, we poured the liquid crayon into the molds and waited for them to harden. The results were beautiful!
Students made observations such as "this crayon looks like the Earth!", and "this crayon looks like a watermelon!". It was certainly interesting to hear such rich discussion taking place.

 

We decided to extend the activity after one student asked the question: "Can we make crayons in different shapes instead of different colours?". We posed the question to the class and decided to use cupcake tins as molds.

We carefully peeled the crayons, displaying a great deal of concentration and patience!

 After our new crayons had cooled and hardened, we decided to experiment with them! Each child was given a cylindrical crayon, and one piece of the "cupcake" crayon.

Some students decided to see which crayon was easier to grasp in order to write finer details and print.

Some students noted they could cover a larger surface area in less time with the larger 'cupcake' crayon.

One student decided to create a survey and asked students about the texture, the differences between the two, and whether or not they liked the new crayons!