Melted crayon rocks are made by “painting” on hot rocks with crayons, which melt as they touch the heated rock. This post shares tips and tricks for success.
Aren’t these melted crayon rocks beautiful?! This is something we’ve done a few times over the past few years and is one of our favorites. I could have sworn I had posted about this before, but I guess not.
The rocks shown here were “painted” by Maia with the melting crayon. She especially loved the light blue and melted the entire crayon down to a nub.
How to Make Melted Crayon Rocks
MATERIALS
- Small, smooth rocks
- Crayons (to protect fingers, do not use short stubs)*
- Oven
- Baking sheet
- Towel or mat to protect your table
- Foil
A Note about Crayons: Any crayons will work, however, we’ve found that beeswax-based crayons and soy crayons work a bit better than petroleum-based crayons. The coating ends up waxier and more opaque. More beautiful!
Instructions for Making DIY Crayon Rocks
We are lucky to have a good supply of small rocks in our backyard. We gathered a colander full and washed and dried them.
I spread the clean rocks out on a foil-lined cookie sheet and put them in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven to heat up.
Once the rocks were hot, we transferred them one or two at a time to a protected surface to work, leaving the rest in the oven.
The table was protected with a placemat, a washcloth, and a piece of foil. Possibly overkill. The foil is pretty necessary to catch the melting crayon and I think a washcloth or towel is wise to keep the hot rock from damaging the table surface.
Have you tried making melted crayon rocks?
The crayon melts over the surface of the hot rocks and creates a smooth, vibrant, colorful coating that hardens into a waxy shell.
It is SO satisfying. A tad addictive even.
After working on this batch of rocks together while Daphne napped yesterday, Maia collected a second batch of rocks to work on with a friend.
The melting crayon is so liquid it’s like painting with crayons. You can use one color or several. Make designs, swirls, dots, stripes, faces, whatever.
We used a variety of crayons, but mostly these push-up wax crayons, just because they were handy at the time and work so well. Plus the plastic handle keeps the crayon safely long even when the actual crayon piece is down to a nub.
Note: The Jolly push-up crayons shown here no longer seem to be available. However, we have made these rock crayons with many different kinds of crayons. These beeswax crayons are our favorite for this activity.
Here are some of Maia’s melted crayon rocks.
And some of mine.
If you haven’t done this yet, give it a try! And if your kiddos are too young to be working with hot rocks, then do it yourself while they nap. I bet you’ll love it.
More Ideas for Melted Crayon Rocks
- Melted crayon rock art as gifts
- Creative play with melted crayon rocks
- DIY wishing stones for a friend
- You can also make melted crayon sea shells!
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