15 Unique Activities Using Crayons – Besides Coloring

Crayons are a huge part of the fabric of our lives. They bring back special memories and bond us together. They inspire creativity and originality. Crayons can be versatile and not just used for coloring. Here are 15 amazing activities that will show you just how valuable a box of crayons really is.

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1. Properties of matter

This is a great and motivating way to show changes in the physical states of matter.

1. Glue crayons to a white piece of cardboard.
2. Heat with a blow dryer.
3. Crayons will melt into a liquid and then change back into a solid.
4. This science activity encourages ample discussion. It’s also very pretty!

2. Crayon transfer art

Kids will think crayon transfer art is absolutely magical.

1. Color a paper with different colored crayons taking up the entire white space.
2. Turn the colored paper over and place a blank white paper underneath.
3. Draw a picture.
4. The crayon colors get transferred onto the white paper.

3. Harold and the Purple Crayon extension activities

This is a classic story and lends itself to many different writing and drawing extension activities.

1.  Read the story Harold and the Purple Crayon.

Extension Ideas:

• With a purple crayon, have students write and draw things that are purple.
• Students can draw a scene from the story in purple.
• Students can use purple construction paper scraps to illustrate a picture.

4. Crayon holiday ornaments

I don’t know about you, but I am always looking for holiday presents students can make for parents. These are perfect!

1. Use a pencil sharpener or a cheese grater to make crayon shavings.
2. Buy glass ornaments.
3. Put the crayon shavings into the ornaments and use a blow dryer to melt the crayon shavings inside.

5. Crayon resist magic painting

Students love performing magic, and they will love making pictures appear.

1. Write sight words on white paper with white crayon.
2. Use watercolors to paint over the white crayon.
3. The sight words will appear.
4. Science is taught by explaining that oil and water do not mix. The wax from the crayon doesn’t mix with the water in the paint. This is how crayon resist art is created.

6. Crayon planets

This is a great way to begin a unit about the solar system. Kids will love to see these beautiful scale representations of each planet.

1. Use small bowls in scale relationship to the size of the planets.
2. Place foil around the bowls.
3. Break up crayons into small pieces based on the colors of the planets.
4. Melt them in the oven at 250 degrees.
5. Swirl the wax with toothpicks.
6. Use the models to teach the solar system to your students.

7. Sensory crayon bottle race to the bottom

Sensory bottles are always useful in creating excitement and learning!

1. Create a graph with the crayon colors.
2. Fill an empty Voss water bottle with water and leave some space at the top.
3. Place crayon buttons in the bottle.
4. Turn the bottle upside down and see which crayon button gets to the bottom first.
5. Do this several times and graph the winning crayon buttons.
6. You can compare the difference of adding corn syrup to another Voss bottle of water with the crayon buttons.

8. Crayon opinion and letter writing

This is an engaging story that can create a discussion about opinion and how to write a letter.

1. Read students the story, The Day the Crayons Quit.
2. Discuss the opinion of each crayon and why they wished to stop being a crayon.
3. Have students choose a color crayon, and write a letter to one of their classmates from that color crayon.

9. Build a crayon fort

This lesson combines literacy, stem, and artistic creativity. Students will love making a fort for crayons.

1. Read the story, The Day the Crayons Came Home.
2. In the story, the main character builds a fort for the crayons when they come back home.
3. Get some empty boxes from the school.
4. Have teams of students make a fort by decorating the box with crayons and other items.

10. Crayon playdough

What kid doesn’t like using playdough? This is an easy and fun way to provide it for your students. And, you guessed it, crayons are the main ingredient.

1. First, chop up two and a half crayons. 
2. Mix together the dry ingredients (flour, salt, cream of tartar).
3. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a pan and add the chopped crayons. Stir until they are melted. 
4. Add and stir two cups of water.  
5. Stir in the dry ingredients slowly.
6. After the dough pulls together into a ball, dump it onto a cutting board and let cool until you can knead. Knead until it is smooth.

11. Building number sentences with crayons

1. Teach students about greater than and less than.
2. Have students use crayons to make a greater than and less than sign.
3. Have students place specific amounts of crayons on each side to make the number sentence true.
4. Students can use this same idea to make shapes, letters, and numbers. So easy and hands-on!

12. STEM crayon tower

This is an incredibly easy and fun STEM challenge. And the best part is all that you need are crayons! Who doesn’t have millions of those?

1. Make some task cards by taking pictures of towers that you have made with crayons.
2. Have students use the task cards to build the same structures.
3. Challenge students to make their own structures that will not fall down.

13. Make your name STEM challenge

 This STEM challenge uses creativity and resourcefulness.

1. Students find crayons, markers, pencils and any other materials in their desks to create their names.
2. Race to see who finishes their names first.

14. Halloween decorative pumpkin

This pumpkin turns out beautifully.  You are also teaching about physical changes at the same time.

1. Buy a white pumpkin.
2. Cut some crayons and glue them near the stem of the pumpkin.
3. Use a blow dryer to melt the crayons. Once again, you could discuss the physical states of matter changes.

15. Crayon numbers

Need some classroom tools for counting and math practice? Once again, crayons come to the rescue!

1. Use mini crayons or mini erasers as your manipulatives.
2. Draw flower stems as indicated in the picture.
3. Write a number in the middle of each stem.
4. Students use crayons and place the corresponding number of petals on the flower.
5. Crayons can be amazing teaching tools for more than just coloring. Try some of these suggestions today!