Block Crayons

Two posts in one day?! Really. I have some time on my hands while the little ones are napping.

My appointment went well today. Baby looks okay but the placenta seems to be lying pretty low. I have another sonogram scheduled for Feb. 4th so we will know better then. We'll also find out gender then as well. Can't wait!

So when I ordered the kids' new curriculum, I also ordered some block crayons. Mainly for Reece. (I'll be updating soon on the changes we're making to our homeschool program. I'm *very* excited about that!) Well a charter school had ordered everything that Oak Meadows had so ours are on back order for a week. What's a person to do? Make some ourselves!!!

If you're not familiar with block crayons they are mainly used in Waldorf schools and in Waldorf-y type settings. They are introduced to younger children before regular stick crayons. There's many interesting reasons for this but I have to admit some of the highlights for me were normal, common sense things. My little ones are forever breaking crayons. Then we have little bits here and there and it drives me crazy. Block crayons are pretty impossible to break. They don't roll off the table. They're easy for little toddler type people to hold and draw with.

Also, the things that can be done with block crayons are simply amazing. This dvd here looks really neat and I plan on ordering it for the kids sometime in the future. You can watch a trailer for it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqnb39BxgWI
Check it out, it's very cool.

The block crayons we ordered were the beeswax version made by Stockmar. They're a European company that makes beeswax stick and block crayons, paints, supplies, etc. I love them very hard. But they can be pricey. For the set of 8 block crayons we ordered it was $11 before shipping. Now granted, they last for a very, very long time and don't snap like other crayons.

So until the little ones learn to show some reverence for their "good" crayons and supplies I'll be collecting for them, we've made our own block crayons. These work great and will definitely be nicer to deal with than having bits and pieces rolling all over. And better yet, a set of 18 cost me $1.07! Waldorf meets frugality. =D

On to the pictures!


Step One: Employ some eager young volunteers to peel those pesky crayon wrappers off.



Step Two: Break into pieces and place in lined muffin tin. You don't necessarily need to line the tin if you intend on making crayons in the shape of the tin. I did this because I needed to be able to pour the hot wax into the molds.


Step 3: Send your poor husband out to local sit down restaraunts to explain that his crazy homeschooling wife needs lots and lots of single serving jelly packets to use as crayon molds and may he please take a few? (This is where our only cost of $1.07 came from. Ihop charged us. The waitress at Kettle laughed so hard she couldn't ring it up and waved at Marty to take the bag. Said she'd never heard of a soldier asking for little jellies to make crayons. Ha)


Step 4: Put the jelly into an old baby food container. Who wants blackberry jam on their toast?!


Step 5: Once the crayons are melted in the oven pour each color into a clean and dry mold.


Step 6: After your crayons are hard (we put ours in the freezer), they'll pop right out of the molds.


Voila! Block Crayons!


Find a box to keep them in where you can set them on the table for the little ones to use.


And finally: Find yeerself a purty little toddler to try them out. They're easy to hold and easy to use.

This was a really great little project to do. Very easy and fun. I think it'd also be really neat to get some interesting candy molds and make different shapes. We might also try this again and layer the colors to get some funky, crazy colored crayons. =)

Handmade Christmas...again

Just a few pictures tonight of some recent projects. =)
This isn't a recent project but it's still cute. Quinny fell asleep on the living room floor in his bear suit. He was tired so we let him sleep. He stayed there for about a half hour before he woke up smiling and sweaty.

Here is Jimmie's elf as he requested. The lighting in the room wasn't very good so the leaves on his vest aren't showing up well. I still need to bind off his feet. Jimmie pointed out the hair at Hobby Lobby one day and said it looked like elf hair. So I picked it up the next time I was there alone.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was waiting on a Waldorf making dvd. It was worth every penny! I can see a difference in using Joy's techniques already. She just retired though and I'm sad to have found her almost too late.

Here is Reece's boy. I think this is my favorite so far. Traditional Waldorf dolls don't have noses because the features are meant to be as simple as possible but some of the bigger dolls do. I decided to make this one with a nose and really like it.

Reece wanted his boy to have "lellow" hair like him so that's what he got. I made the t-shirt with some fabric I had that I was originally going to use to make some trainers or knickers for Reece. I made his pants out of a pair of recycled jeans that didn't fit anymore. I may make the little boys shirts like this, it was very easy and cute!

What do you do when you need new furniture...

and it's not really in the budget? You get creative! We needed some night stands for our bedroom really bad. We both read at night so we always have books, book lights, and other things shoved under our pillows. Marty stays up late every night reading and listening to his best friend Dave Ramsey. Haha.

So anyway, we found some old end tables on Craigslist for a good price. They didn't look very attractive and had a bad paint job but they were interesting.

So we removed the hardware, lightly sanded them down, and got them ready for primer.

Some paint and new knobs and they were like brand new furniture! We're really happy with them and they're being put to good use. Also, they cost us much less than buying them new. Being frugal is the new black. =)

I'll be posting some pictures of the kiddos in their costumes later!