Fun Melted Crayon Rock Craft for Kids

Your kids will love making melted crayon rocks! It’s so much fun to watch the crayons melt and magically turn into paint on the hot rocks as they draw.

Colorful rocks painted with melted crayon - a fun activity for kids!

“Painting” Hot Rocks with Crayons

One of my favorite activities as a kid was using crayons to draw on paper that was set over my mom’s hot plate (with the supervision of course).

There was just something so mesmerizing and magical about how the crayon would melt and glide over the paper…..kids today would probably describe it as “satisfying”..#asmr

It’s funny how a simple change in temperature can completely change the experience and completely elevate the experience of using crayons.

Well, today the kids were bored and we couldn’t think of anything to do. That’s when I try to think about what I liked to do as a kid, and thought about melting crayons on the hot plate.

Unfortunately, I don’t own a hot plate 🙁

However, we do have a ton of rock in our yard and it’s been over 100 degrees for the past 5 days where we live. (ugghhh).

That’s when the lightning bolt struck!

We could use crayons to draw on the hot rocks, which would melt from the heat! #sofun

Colorful rocks that have been painted with melted crayons.

How to Make Melted Crayon Rocks

First things first: This melted crayon craft needs to be done with adult supervision. Since the rocks need to be warm enough to melt the crayon, they will also be warm enough to burn sensitive skin. Please use caution and make sure kids are either protected or old enough to understand how to handle the rocks.

Ok, now you are going to need to gather your supplies. You will need:

Crayons
Clean, dry rocks – the flatter and smoother the better!
Oven-mitts this glove works awesome and we use ours all the time.
- Optional (if using an oven)
  - Baking sheet, towel and foil.

How to (Safely) Find/Make Hot Rocks for Painting

On the day that we did this activity, it was 108 degrees outside. We also happen to have a lot of rock gardens as part of our landscaping, so we just walked outside and had access to plenty of hot rocks.

A young boy picking up hot rocks from the rock garden, using an oven mitt for safety. — Gathering rocks to melt crayons on. Notice the oven mitt? Safety first!

If you are not in the same situation, you will need to gather rocks ahead of time (which makes for a fun activity on it’s own) and you will need to warm up your rocks.

While, it’s possible for your rocks to get quite warm while sitting in the sun, you may have better luck placing them in the oven (especially if it’s winter).

To heat up the rocks in the oven:

Cover a baking sheet with foil and place rocks on top.
Place the rocks in an oven heated to 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes

While the rocks are heating place a folded towel, or non-stick mat on the table or work surface.

To prevent any messes from melting crayon, place a sheet of foil on top of the towel.

Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and use an oven mitt to place the rocks on the foil where the child will be coloring the rocks. The foil will catch any wax that happens to drip off the rocks.

As you can see, we did our activity outside and we did not have a problem with the wax getting all over the place, but my kids are older and have pretty good self control #knockonwood