Recycled Crayons

A high school batch mate posted a recycling project she did with her girls at home, and with her idea, I thought of a way to help raise funds (small scale) for our school.

Since I work at a school, I had access to crayons... a lot of crayons that end up getting thrown away at the end of each school year.  So before we went on summer break, I asked all my co teachers to give me their left over crayons so I can work on it as my summer project.

The first thing I needed to do was prepare my crayons. I had to soak the crayons in water overnight so I can take the wrapper/peeling off.  Then I sorted them according to color.

After all that was done, I had to gather the other materials I was going to need.

• silicone molds (I got these silicone ice molds from IKEA)
• Pam oil spray
• popsicle stick for stirring 
• foil baking trays (I used foil muffin trays that I cut separately and manipulated the edges to form a spout for easy pouring)
• tongs and oven mitts
• scented oils (optional)

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Put the crayons in the foil, onto a baking tray covered with foil and into the oven. Leave them in there until the crayons melt. 

Prepare the silicone molds by spraying them with Pam. This will help to make taking the crayons out of the mold easier and it will also help with less staining and less left over crayons in the mold that will make clean up difficult. I worked on the crayons one color at a time.

Check your crayons in the oven. Stir the thick liquid with a stick to make sure that the crayons have completely melted. You may add drops of scented oil at this time. 

Pour the melted crayons into the mold and wait for the crayons to cool and set. It may take about an hour or more. 

   

I packed an assortment of  colored crayons and shapes and sold them as a fundraiser back to the students at the school. 

Mine Craft Shoes

Is your child into Mine Craft? Why not make him Mine Craft Creeper shoes just because.

What you will need:
Tubes of Craft Paint in different shades of green, black, silver, and a cream one.
Fine Paint brush
Plain slip on shoes - I found these at K mart for $8!!!

 
What to do:
Prepare your design template. I just used graphing paper to plan the colors to be put into each square.
Transfer the template onto your shoe.
Start painting and let it dry.

I made sure that the heel of the shoes also have a design.

It's amazing how there are different kinds of paint available at the craft store. What's important to nore is that you need to read the labels and make sure that they can go and stay on fabric. I used mostly acrylic paint, and some of the greens are all purpose paint. For the finer lines, such as when I need to clean off the edges, I used a fine tipped fabric marker. You can also find those at the craft store.

For this other shoe, I made a mistake in the design template so thought of bleaching it, but ended up staining the shoe, so I had to do a different approach for the template on this one. The challenge with this design is making sure that I had equal squares and that it matches the other shoe. Meaning I can make sure to draw the same amount of squares and center it perfectly to match the other one.

I Can't Believe We Made BUTTER

This week's theme in class was on the farm. We talked about what happens in a farm, what grows in a farm, why farms are essential, etc. We also talked about the animals in the farm, etc.

Now, as a culminating activity we decided to make butter, and it is so easy, you will astonish yourself!

What you will need:
Whole milk (you can't use non fat or soy milk... it has to be milk with fat in it.)
Baby food jars - clean
marbles - clean

What to do:
Put 2 clean marbles in the baby food jar.
Pour milk about 2/3 full.
Close it with a lid.
Shake until it forms a curd.

The shaking is the hard part. So to keep my students interested in the activity, we sang Old McDonald as they were shaking their jars. Pretty soon when they saw their milk turning into cream they became more invested in the "shaking", and eventually there was a solid floating inside of it.

What you actually made is unsalted butter and there will also be water milky substance around it, which is the butter milk.

Balloon Chocolate Bowls

A friend shared this YouTube video with me and so I decided to spend my weekend to try and make them, because the video just made it look so easy.



What you will need:
A double boiler
a bag of chocolate chips
vegetable oil
bowl
balloons - inflated
cookie sheet
waxed paper

What to do:
Melt your chocolate in a double boiler. If you do not have a double boiler, you can use a small and a big pot. Put water in the bigger pot and let that boil. Put the smaller pot into the bigger one and use that to melt your chocolate.

Add some vegetable oil to make it more smooth. For each cup of chocolate chips I added about a teaspoon. Make sure that your pan and spoon are completely dry (not even damp) or else your chocolate will not melt in a smooth finish, but rather, turn into clumps.

I poured the chocolate into a bowl so I can get more chocolate onto my balloon when I dip it in. Make sure that the bowl is wide enough to fit the round end of the balloon. Make sure that the melted chocolate has cooled a bit 'cause otherwise your balloon will pop (and you would deal with chocolate splatter, not pretty!). Adding some vegetable oil, bought you the extra time you need to let the chocolate cool for a bit but not set into a solid.

While you are waiting, prepare the surface where you will set your chocolate balloons. I used a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper.

Take about a spoon full of chocolate our into onto the waxed paper to make flat chocolate discs. This will be the base of your bowl.

Then dip the round end of your balloon into the melted chocolate and set it on top of the chocolate disc. Let the chocolate cool and set into a solid. If you space in your fridge, you can let it sit and set there. This may take hours. (Waiting is the hardest part of this process!!!)

When the chocolate has set, use a safety pin to pop the balloon. (This is the fun part, so I suggest you get the kids involved in this.) If you chocolate is not ready, it will curl up with the balloon and not retain its shape when you pop it. So do a trial first.

Your chocolate bowls are done. Use it to serve ice cream.  

Crispy Spinach

Today, I had this strong craving for something crunchy, but we didn't have any chips nor crackers at home. We did however, have an egg and an opened-half-filled bag of spinach, which I believe will go bad if I don't use it.

So... with a little elbow grease, I turned them into something crunchily satisfying.

What you will need:
Cooking oil
spinach leaves
egg - separated, will use only the whites
a pinch salt and a dash of pepper

Other things you will need:
* a pan
* tongs
* a strainer or platter lined with paper towel to drain spinach after frying.

What to do:
Separate the egg white from the yolk. You will only need the whites.

Beat the egg white until frothy. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat a pan with oil in it.

Dip each spinach into the egg white.

Then pan fry the spinach one at a time. Turn over to cook both sides. It should be cooked when spinach turns into a dark green color and egg white turns a bit golden.

Drain excess oil in a strainer or on a platter with a paper towel.

Serve right away.

This should be good on its own, but sometimes I do dip it in a creamy vinaigrette dressing.  

Semi-homemade Blueberry Danish

I love danish, such as cream cheese and blueberry. 

I love it with tea, but it is best with a cup of coffee. 

I don't have enough money to buy pre-made from the store. 

So I will make them instead and eat a lot more. 

I love danish, what else can I say.

I love it, I love it, I can eat it all day. 

If you love blueberry cream cheese danish as much as I do, then this is just the post for you!
(Hey, it still rhymes!)

What you will need:
Premade pastry dough sheets - buy frozen but thaw for a bit before using.
canned blueberry pie filling
4oz cream cheese- softened
1 tbsp ricotta cheese
1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
powdered sugar for dusting
egg wash - 1 egg mixed with 1 tbsp water

Other things you will need are:
* A rolling pin, some flour for dusting the surface, and a mat
* A big round cookie cutter, but I just used the widest drinking glass I can find, turned it over and used the rim.
* a pastry brush
* a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or wax paper

What to Do:
Preheat oven to 350 degreed F.

Roll the dough and cut them into circles.

Mix the cream cheese, ricotta cheese, yolk, vanilla and sugar,  Blend until smooth.

Put about a spoon of cream cheese mixture at the center of the circle and top it with about a teaspoon of blueberry filling.

Brush the sides of the circle with egg wash. This will give it a nice finish after baking.

Place the danish on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or wax paper.

Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, until it turns into a golden brown color.

Dust with powdered sugar at the top.

Serve and enjoy!

Painting with Q-Tips

In class today, we talked about the seasons, and as a culminating activity I divided the class into small groups so we can paint a tree that depicts each season, using Q-tips.

See pictures of their awesome artwork.

an apple tree in the summer

 a tree in the fall

 apple blossoms in the spring

a glittery winter tree