Being Crafty: Rainbow Snow Globe

Having Auntie Megan here has been such a huge blessing! She's been keeping our house from turning into a pigsty, which it definitely would be if I kept up at the pace I've been going (i.e. turtle slooooowww...). But besides the cleaning and the company, she brought a new creative brain into the house! One of the first days she was here, she told me that we needed to pick up cheap crayons for a project she had in mind. Once we had the crayons and an empty glass jar with a lid, we began the project: Rainbow Snow Globes!

Step 1: Peel the paper off of a pile of crayons. This was Lucian's favorite part of the craft, as it gave him permission to do what he always wants to do with the church Mass Bag crayons!

Step 2: Scrape the crayons to make a pile of wax shavings. After trying finger nails, a butter knife, a potato peeler and a dime, we ended up with a pretty hefty pile of shavings. We're still undecided as to which method worked best. Actually, for Megan it was her fingernails, for me it was the dime, for Max it was the butter knife, and for Lucian it was the potato peeler. So if you try this craft, I have no good advice!

Step 3: Using a piece of paper as a funnel, pour the crayon shavings into a glass jar. Fill the jar to the brim with water. The closer you get to the top, the smaller the air bubble you'll have, and the better your shavings will float around.

Step 4: Put the lid back on and shake, shake, shake! We originally used this humongous applesauce jar, but Max could barely lift it! So we eventually transferred our shavings into a jelly jar, and now it is a hit around this house. The shavings hover at the top of the jar (like a reverse snow globe) until you shake it up. Then you have a cool swirl of colors until the water stops spinning. And what's more, when the water is still, the jar can double as a pretty cool magnifying glass! (This alternate use brought to you by our resident explorer, Captain Max Salty).

Thus was our first rainy morning with Auntie Megan made bright and cheerful! Happy crafting!