Here’s a fun craft that we dreamed up last week — electric griddle drawings!
This is an incredibly cool way to draw pictures but you must use extreme caution with kids and be sure to only do this with kids old enough to be careful around the hot plate.
I did this when two-year-old Alex was napping, because I knew he wouldn’t be able to do it safely. My oldest kids (ages 6, 10 and 11) were all able to do it safely and follow the rules fine.
Supplies needed:
Electric griddle
Tin foil
White copy paper
Crayons
Steps:
1. Cover your griddle with tin foil. I didn’t think of this and it took us a very long time to get melted crayon wax off before we had pancakes next. 🙂 You need to cover it with tin foil because the wax cannot bleed through it (as it would with newspaper) and the heat will still be conducted.
2. Lay a couple of sheets of white paper down.
3. Turn your griddle on to about 325 to start. When it’s preheated, take a crayon and start to draw on one of the sheets of paper. When the griddle is the right temperature, the crayon will melt as you draw with it. It should become liquid and very bright. If it’s not melting much, turn the heat up to 350 and try again. Too high and the crayon will smoke, though.
4. Instruct your child to keep hands and arms away from the hot griddle and hold the crayon straight up and down. (Note: a couple of times we accidentally brushed the griddle despite being careful. It was a shock but was not hot enough to leave a mark or do real damage.)
5. Create!
6. When your child is finished, carefully remove the paper. You may want to use tongs or a pot holder. The paper should be cool enough to touch in a few seconds.
This is a really addictive craft. Even I couldn’t resist joining Jack and drawing with him. There is something really satisfying about the way the crayons just melt under your touch and leave such vivid, liquid-like marks.
These look gorgeous in a sunny window.
Here’s a collage of some of our kids’ masterpieces.
Happy Thursday!
Yikes!!! ;D
Looks fun though!! I have used my griddle to do embossing with stamping stuff… you use a rubber stamp ( or anything you choose to make a wet print ) sprinkle embossing powder over the print and lay it on the griddle! As the powder melts it makes a relief! It’s pretty cool… or hot….!! ;D
What an interesting craft. You would have to be very careful but the results are impressive.
I wonder if you could use wax paper? This sounds like fun – Can’t wait to try it!
Julie, you can use wax paper. We tried it and it worked, but the results were not nearly as striking. The crayon beads up a bit and you don’t get that vivid color from the oils saturating the paper. It’s definitely cool to experiment with though. 🙂
I really enjoyed reading about your griddle-melted-crayon art. It’s one of my favorite art ideas. You might like to try it with the kids wearing mittens or work gloves, especially on the non-drawing hand, to hold the paper so it won’t wiggle, and they like wearing or holding gloves. Funny how kids are sometimes. I hope you will visit my blog too:
http://maryannfkohl.typepad.com/blog/
I have some wonderful videos, plus an interview with Mr. Rogers that is pure magic.
Yours truly,
MaryAnn Kohl
art author for kids
PS Free art ideas on my website: http://www.brightring.com
You might look into electric buffet warming trays from the 60s, which can be found in Goodwill or other thrift stores. They don’t get so hot and are very smooth. Use them all the time.
Good idea, Maryann! Thanks!
looks like fun! Will do.
When I was little, my parents helped us grate old crayons with a carrot/potato grater, then we put the crayon shavings inbetween two sheets of baking paper and ironed it. Really cool, and you had two art pieces for the work of one 🙂
I loved doing that when I was little too. I actually picked up an iron at a thrift store for doing this with my kids. Embarrassing fact– it had been so long since I ironed clothes that I couldn’t find our regular one. 🙂