Thursday, February 11, 2010

Preschool Valentines

My little boy celebrated Valentine's Day at preschool on Wednesday. He was so excited to bring in valentines for his classmates and teachers. We opted to make crayon hearts--the same preschool valentine that Princess handed out a few years ago.

I started off by peeling the paper off all the old broken Crayola crayons I've been stockpiling for the past couple of years. (Yes, I plan ahead!) I learned, after making these a few years ago, that good quality crayons melt down much nicer than cheapie dollar store crayons! After the crayons were peeled, I put the children to work rubbing the crayon sides on paper to clean off all the speckled bits of crayon. Then I chopped up the crayons...
...and put them into silicone ice cube trays. I bought these trays last year for $2.50 for a two pack at Target (in the dollar spot at the front of the store) but you can also make them using the Reynolds foil hearts that are available at Dollar Tree. That's what I used the last time I made crayon hearts.
Group similar colors together to get extra pretty hearts...and skip the grays and browns.
I put my silicone trays on a cookie sheet to give them stability. The last thing I want is crayon wax spilled anywhere! I baked them at 275 degrees for about ten minutes--basically until everything looked melted.
The blue ones were gorgeous when they were liquidy--they were so vibrant and pretty!
Leave them in the trays until they're solid, then just pop them out. I ended up with a small amount of blah white wax that rose to the tops of some of the crayons, so I shaved that off with a knife after I popped the crayons out of the mold.
Then I used foam tape (from the scrapbook section at Michael's) to attach the crayons to these cute cards--my little boy wrote his name on the backs of all the cards all by himself. Proud mama moment! I can't take credit for the cards--I found a PDF over at The Long Thread where Ellen did all the work! All I did was print the pictures onto cardstock, cut them out, and use my corner rounder punch on them. These valentines turned out super cute and, had I not needed a $56 new ink cartridge for my printer (ouch!!) would have been free to make using supplies we already had at home.

As an aside, as the mama of a nut allergic child, I like trying to lead by example and show other parents that holiday treats don't always need to be candy. I'm biting my tongue and trying to lead by example rather than by lecture.

14 comments:

Jodee said...

How creative! Those turned out sooo cute!

Hope you have a Happy Valentine's Day!

Darlene said...

Those heart crayons turned out ADORABLE!!! What a cute idea for Valentine's Day.

Hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day.♥

Karri said...

They turned out fabulous!!!
We made them last year, but I learned the hard way about cheap crayons (the texture of the cheap ones were funky once melted!)
I hope they were a hit! I know that a mom made them this year b/c she said that they were her favorite valentine her child received last year. Attract more bees w/ honey, right?

Unknown said...

They came out sooooo cute. :) Just found your blog and I'm totally adding you to my blog list. :)

Anna said...

love this idea! I will have to bookmark it to use sometime with my kids or for my pre-school class (I know they would love the part of peeling off the crayon papers and breaking the crayons apart)

Sarah said...

This is such a great idea! I can't wait until our little one is old enough to take/make Valentine's for school and friends!

Carol said...

I LOVE this idea!! I'm so gonna try this :) Thanks for sharing.

Shannon said...

That is such a cute idea!

Amy said...

I LOVE this idea - I will have to save it for next year. My daughter's preschool is only allowing cards, no candy, stickers, treat bags, etc. I'm so sad because I love coming up with something creative for V-day. Oh well, there is always next year.

Thanks for sharing your cute cards!

Jen @ tatertotsandjello.com said...

That is so cute and clever Sarah!!! I wish I had seen this in time to do it. I have tons of broken crayons everywhere!

Thanks so much for linking up to my party!!!

XOOX
Jen

kcrack said...

These are soooo cute! I LOVE them. I love your blog! (AND...thanks for the sweet comment on my announcements).

Sixty-Fifth Avenue said...

These are so cute and creative! And I love a candy free valentine.

Thanks for the nice comment on my PB playroom.

Andrea said...

I just found your blog and I'm loving it! I bought some heart molds similar to those in the Target dollar spot. Mine said they were ice cube molds. Were yours something different? I'm just not sure if mine are safe to put in the oven.

Lemon Annie said...

That is the cutest idea ever!!! You are so clever.