Making something out of something

Lately, I have been trying my hardest to be a more "pro active" mom- a mom that plays with my kids instead of merely just instructing them to "go play"!!  I have noticed that as the years pass and they grow up and older, they are not only becoming more self sufficient with every day tasks but also with their "play time".  It use to be that we could/would sit for hours building forts, playing puzzles, constructing lego sets and coloring picture but sadly no one needs my help anymore... My babies are no longer babies and are capable of doing it all on their own.  But I won't take them growing up without a fight... And I'm one tough cookie!!!!! So today I decided we were going to have some mommy-son play time/art time. We opted to make some beautiful and very colorful canvases using melted crayons.  Being the hoarder that I am, I found these blank canvases in my craft stash and then we scoured the house in search of old crayons. 

 

We began by laying out an old plastic table cloth and gathered our supplies

       * crayons

         * canvases

           * hair dryer

              * paper plates

The kids peeled off the paper labels on the crayons and placed them in a big bowl... its wise to keep them out of the sun if you are outside or you'll create a whole different piece of art!

 

 

Then the magic began.... It wasn't long until their stark white boards were splattered with all the colors of the rainbow.  We found that  by changing the direction on the hot air and the distance points, it gave us different effects with the crayon splatters. *Note of caution* be careful not to burn your little fingers with the hot air coming out of the hair dryer.... it can get very very hot!!   

 

 



 

Although this is a rather safe project for the kiddos, we did end up with one battle wound!!

 





 And one "melt" down.... see how I tied my child's pouting into the art project itself?

 (I'm cleaver like that!!)

 



 

But in no time he was back to creating his master piece.

And wa-la!!! Our very own custom art work. 
 



Now we are just trying to figure out the perfect wall to display these beauties. The kids each want to hang them in their own rooms but I would like to keep them together as a series so everyone can enjoy there awesomeness!!

At the end of the day, I realized that although my children may be capable of playing all on their own, it is a million times more rewarding to play with them... to interact with them.... to be apart of their creating experiences.  Not only do we have beautiful artwork, we now have beautiful memories of the day we made that artwork together!