Everyday Learning – Page 12 – The Creative Salad

Melted Crayon Hearts Tutorial

This may look like a Valentine’s Day project–and, yes, it certainly could be!–but in our house these adorable crayon hearts are for a certain little girl’s birthday party at the end of the month!

These melted crayon hearts are super simple to make and a great reuse project for any old, broken crayons you have lying around.

First gather your crayons and peel the paper off each of them, a favorite kid activity in our house:

Using your hands, break each crayon into several small pieces so that they will fit inside your mold. We used silicone molds that are meant for candy-making and are available in a wide variety of shapes including dinosaurs, shoes and purses, or the hearts shown above. Amazon or your local baking supply store has you covered.

Unfortunately, the downside to using these cute molds for this project is that once you’ve melted crayons in them you can no longer bake with them. Sigh.

Place the molds in a preheated 250 degree oven for 10-15 minutes until the crayons have completely melted:

Let them cool for twenty minutes and then pop them out of the mold:

Your new, adorable chunky crayons are ready to use!

Or, in our case, ready to place into favor bags for our guests. Such fun!

Thanks to From An Igloo for the inspiration and how-to! Found via Pinterest.

A Walk Among the Redwoods

My sister visited us this past week. What better way to introduce a city girl to the country than to take her on a walk among 1,000 year old redwoods?!

Those trees stand tall:

I love this photo of my sister laughing:

We learned that the above hilarity ensures when you ask a little girl, who is walking directly in front of you, to give you a little space, she may bring your scarf with her when she steps forward!

Inventing a game for playing in the forest:

Wishing there were water under the bridge to play Pooh-sticks:

Who’s that wild animal on our path?!

Super Leyba standing in a fire-ravaged trunk:

Teenagers spotted; those big kids can be so fascinating, even when they’re just sitting on a log:

Dancing it up in the forest because you can make your own music anywhere you go:

After a long walk, we hit nearest winery where the grown-up ladies tasted champagne and the youngling chugged some Izzi while we had a snack before heading home. Walking can be just so exhausting. ;)

We love you, Laura!

Feeding the Winter Birds

Remember the home-strung popcorn garlands from our Christmas tree?

After we took down our tree, we carried the garlands outside to adorn the blackberry bushes at the end of our driveway.

Now, to wait and see what the birds think! We’ll keep you posted.

Best of 2011: Everyday Learning

We had so much fun this past year in our everyday learning activities: exploring the natural world and helping support our three year old daughter as she gains skills and confidence in the kitchen, with reading, writing, and riding around on her scooter, dancing, photographing, making music and transforming every experience into a learning opportunity (both for her and for us!).

Working in Bed (original post)

Here are some of the more special experiences we blogged about — just a small snippet of our homeschooling activities — over the past year that touch about our everyday learning and exploration activities.

Yoga Game Time (original post)

Inspired by The Very Hungry Caterpillar (original post)

Building a Computer with Daddy (original post)

Leaf Exploration With Stencils (original post)

Copious Amounts of Poppy Seeds (original post)

The Nest in our Wind Chimes (original post),
A Peak in the Nest (original post),
More Baby Birds Coming Our Way Soon (original post), and
Saying Farewell, a Sad Nest Update (original post)

Leaf Rubbings and Characteristics Activity (original post)

What a busy, fun time we’ve had!

Best of 2011: Crafty Projects

We’ve done so many fun crafty projects over the past year. Here are some of our family’s favorites, with links to the original posts.

Toddler Art Napkins (original post)

Picture Frame Decoupage Project (original post)

Sweet Dreams Felt Banner (original post)

Embroidered Portrait Fun (original post)

Felt Salad Greens, Spinach and Mushrooms (original post)

Decoupage Paper Mache Eggs (original post)

Make Your Own Literary Magnets (original post)

Poppy Flower Inspired Tissue Paper Art (original post)

Mod Podged Trays (original post)

Colorful Scrabble Letter Magnets (original post)

Handmade Watercolor Postcards (original post)

Red Glitter Clothespins Tutorial (original post)

Gratitude Leaf Rubbings Garland (original post)

Picture Bottle-Cap Magnets (original post)

Believe it or not, we’ve written about even more kid-friendly arts and craft projects. Click here to see the whole shebang — all of the crafty projects we’ve made this year!