One night almost two years ago when Pippi came for a sleepover, the first thing Pippi wanted to do was build a fairy house in the front flower bed.
After dinner, when bedtime came, we followed our established tradition. Pippi carried my jewelry boxes to the bed where she examined each item while I lay beside her and told her its history. After jewelry time we discussed what we would have for breakfast. We fell asleep while still pondering the relative merits of pancakes and biscuits.
The next morning after breakfast, the menu having been finalized at last, we undertook a creative project. This time we chopped up old broken crayons, put them in star-shaped muffin cups and melted them in the oven. We thought the result were spectacular.
When Pippi moved with her family to Maine last August, our sleepovers were history. We both lamented the loss.
Pippi's mom told me recently that little brother Zander had broken the last intact star. She said Pippi had wept bitterly.
Last week, when we were preparing a package to mail for Pippi's birthday, Dennis and I decided to make a new set of stars. They turned out just fine.
Yesterday was Pippi's ninth birthday. She called me, excited about her new star collection. She'd had a fine celebration that included an ice skating party. How I wish I could have been there to celebrate with her, except, of course, for the ice skating.
If you want to make new crayons out of old ones, here's how:
Remove paper wrappers and chop the crayons into 1/4-inch lengths. Put the chopped crayons into muffin papers set into a muffin pan, or use a silicon muffin pan without papers. Put the pan into a 200ยบ oven until all of the pieces have melted. These took 20 minutes to melt.
When the crayons have turned to liquid, remove the pan from the oven and let it cool. The melted crayons firm up rather quickly. When they have hardened, turn them out of the pan and, if you used muffin papers, peel them off. That's it.
This project is fun to do with a child. Pippi peeled the paper off crayons and selected the colors for each star. I handled the oven part. For the new batch, not having Pippi to peel the crayon papers, I soaked the crayons in warm water. That make the papers easy to remove.
After dinner, when bedtime came, we followed our established tradition. Pippi carried my jewelry boxes to the bed where she examined each item while I lay beside her and told her its history. After jewelry time we discussed what we would have for breakfast. We fell asleep while still pondering the relative merits of pancakes and biscuits.
The next morning after breakfast, the menu having been finalized at last, we undertook a creative project. This time we chopped up old broken crayons, put them in star-shaped muffin cups and melted them in the oven. We thought the result were spectacular.
Pippi's mom told me recently that little brother Zander had broken the last intact star. She said Pippi had wept bitterly.
Last week, when we were preparing a package to mail for Pippi's birthday, Dennis and I decided to make a new set of stars. They turned out just fine.
Yesterday was Pippi's ninth birthday. She called me, excited about her new star collection. She'd had a fine celebration that included an ice skating party. How I wish I could have been there to celebrate with her, except, of course, for the ice skating.
If you want to make new crayons out of old ones, here's how:
Remove paper wrappers and chop the crayons into 1/4-inch lengths. Put the chopped crayons into muffin papers set into a muffin pan, or use a silicon muffin pan without papers. Put the pan into a 200ยบ oven until all of the pieces have melted. These took 20 minutes to melt.
When the crayons have turned to liquid, remove the pan from the oven and let it cool. The melted crayons firm up rather quickly. When they have hardened, turn them out of the pan and, if you used muffin papers, peel them off. That's it.
This project is fun to do with a child. Pippi peeled the paper off crayons and selected the colors for each star. I handled the oven part. For the new batch, not having Pippi to peel the crayon papers, I soaked the crayons in warm water. That make the papers easy to remove.
1 comment:
Magical!
How I miss that little elfin child!
After reading about the jewelry box and how Pippi has learned the history of each piece, I've decided I want to hear those stories too!
Love you, Mamacita!
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