Preparation
First things first, let’s prep. You will need to get your materials organized and everything in place to ensure your activity runs smoothly.

1. Put your crayons in a container for kids to choose from comfortably.
2. Get a small bag for kids to put a few selected crayons into for the crushing.
3. Cut up some small pieces of paper. I cut them to roughly the same size as a standard photo.
4. Organize an area where you can get a little messy and where you can plug in your hairdryer. It can be good to lay out some newspaper or other base material.

    

Let’s Do It: Crayon Melt with a Hairdryer

1. Let kids choose a few pieces of crayons and place them in a plastic bag.
2. Give the kids a baton/stick and let them whack the crayons in the bag on a hard surface to break them up. And yes, kids do love this.
3. Kids pour the crushed crayons onto a piece of paper.
4. You hold the sieve over the crayons, and kids turn on the hairdryer/hot air gun, pointing it at the sieve (hairdryers and heat guns are a little dangerous, so you need to sufficiently warn kids and keep a close eye on them. If this sounds a bit hard, then maybe skip this activity). This will melt the crayons. You want to melt the crayons just enough so that they stick to the paper and don’t blow around anymore.
5. Remove the sieve and let the kids get creative with how they melt the rest.
6. When the kid is happy with their masterpiece, turn off the hairdryer and let the picture rest for 30 seconds to a minute before letting the kid pick it up and check it out.

Crayon Melt with an Iron
This can also be done with an iron. Steps 1-3 are the same.

1-3. As above.

4. Place a piece of baking paper over the crushed crayons on the paper.
5. Let the kid put the iron on the picture to melt it. It melts very quickly.
6. Peel the baking paper off straight away after using the iron, just be a little careful. And that’s it! Kids have created wonderful art.