Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day.

I remember the excitement of Valentine’s Day when I was in elementary school. Decorating a special folder to store the crimson and blush goodies given by your classmates. I used to love to try to guess who the cards were from before ever opening them. 

I knew at the beginning of this semester, before I ever planned the first lesson, that my second graders were going to get some crayon hearts for Valentine’s Day. I knew I wanted to hand-make them something special.

I never could have known that my microwave would die in the middle of my first attempt at crayon melting. 

Have no fear, Matt came to my rescue. 

That’s right, my very own Valentine held a hair dryer to melt crayons inside heart molds so that I could finish writing lesson plans. 

Be still, my heart. I don’t know what I would do without that man, but I do know he earned some major brownie points last night. 

Here are the finished products: 

Pup just didn’t understand why she couldn’t eat them. 

For those of you that asked (Ms. Jaimi), here is how I made the crayon hearts.

*You will need crayons (colors of your choice), heart shape ice trays (Target), a (functioning) microwave

1) Unwrap the crayons you intend to use. I picked two colors for each heart (okay, maybe i chose coordinating wedding colors. This is how I’m balancing photography and teaching). 

2) Break the crayons into small enough pieces to fit inside the hearts. 

3) Place them in the microwave for two minutes at a time. Check them frequently. They will smell a little strange, but it’s burning wax so it can’t smell but so great unless you buy scented crayons. We’re crayon making, not candle making ya’ll. 

4) Allow them plenty of time to cool (I waited overnight)

5) Pop them out of the trays and voila! Handmade, non-food treats for my second grade friends! 

Pup not included, unless you can help with her chewing obsession. Then, you can borrow her whenever you like. 🙂