What mother of preschoolers or other children hasn’t found broken crayons in the couch, under the couch, and all over the floor?  You may even have been frustrated to find a crayon in the laundry, way after it’s too late to salvage the clothes in that load.  Help your child create crayon wax-melting art to keep from having to throw all the broken crayons away.

Melted wax is dangerous for anyone, especially for children.  Please be careful when trying any of the following crayon wax-melting art projects.  Adult supervision is definitely a must for melted wax artists.  Here’s how to do it:

In the oven:  Set your oven to 250 degrees.  Create new crayons by melting the old broken pieces.  Break the pieces up into smaller pieces and sort the crayons with like colors.  Place the crayon pieces into an old muffin tin.  Put the tin into the oven and then turn the oven off.  Watch the crayons so they don’t melt entirely.  When the crayons have melted sufficiently, remove them from the oven and then place the tin into the freezer for half an hour.  Take the tin out and then pop the new, larger crayons out.

Double Boiler:  Another way to melt peeled crayons is over a double boiler.  Use an old pan that you were going to throw away.  Get a larger pot and place water in the pot to boil.  Put the old pan into the water so it floats.  Put the crayons into the upper pan and allow them to melt.  You can then use a ladle or measuring cup to remove small amounts of wax.  Dribble or paint the melted wax onto paper or into old candy molds.  You can also dribble or pour melted wax on wet sand.

Color on Fabric:  On a blank sheet of paper, create a design you’d like to have on a T-shirt or other piece of fabric.  Color the design heavily, using plenty of crayon.  Set your iron to cool and allow it to heat up.  Place newspaper between the layers of fabric so the colors don’t bleed through.  Then iron the paper until the design shows through.  For best results, use 100% synthetic fabrics.

Sun catchers:  Children love the colors that are thrown across the room through sun catchers.  You can help your child create a melted crayon wax sun catcher.  Give your child a pencil sharpener and let them make crayon shavings.  Fold a large sheet of wax paper and sprinkle crayon shavings on half of it.  With a warm iron, run the iron over the wax paper quickly.  Allow the wax paper to cool and then cut it into various shapes.  Make butterflies or flowers with holes in them where you can tape the melted crayon wax sun catcher on the back so the light and colors shine through.

Let the artist come out in your child.  However, since you’re working with crayon wax-melting art, be sure to supervise closely to keep your child from injury.  The artwork they create will spread colorful light across your room and into your heart.

Everyone in the family has the responsibility to help keep the home running smoothly.  Obviously there are some chores very young children can’t do like shoveling snow.  What are the age-appropriate chores for the winter months?

There are many benefits of giving children chores to do.  It helps them learn responsibility, time management, and helps them play a contributing role to the success of the home.  Usually younger children are eager to help out.  It’s only when they get older that they start fussing and being slow in getting their chores done.

Toddlers as young as two or three love to do what their mommy and daddy do, so it’s a great time to enlist their help and begin to teach them how to do chores.  You might as well take advantage of their willingness to help while you can because it won’t last for long.  Of course, you’ll want to supervise them as they’re just learning, but it’s good for them to learn the proper way to do chores as early as you can.  Children this age can:

* Put their gloves and hats inside their coat pockets so they don’t lose them.
* Dry off pets that have come in from outside.

Preschool children still want to be helpful but they want to do things for themselves.  Thankfully they’re a little older so they don’t need quite as much supervision.  They can help around the house during the winter months by:

* Sweeping the porch or walkway right by the main door.
* Helping to carry shopping bags into the house.

Early school-age children are at the age that they may not want to help as much.  The level of supervision at this age is much less than with the younger children.  They can:

* Help take care of and walk the pets out in the yard.
* Take garbage out to the garbage cans outside.
* Sweep the sidewalk leading to the door.

Pre-teens are going to start pushing the boundaries so they may argue about doing chores.  At this age your child can:

* Help shovel snow from the sidewalks and driveway.
* Take garbage cans out to the road.
* Help scrape ice from side windows on your vehicle.

Teens are able to do much more without supervision, but they will likely fuss the entire time they’re doing their chores.  Teens can help out by:

* Shoveling the sidewalks and driveway.
* Depending upon how you heat your home, teens may be given the chore of chopping wood.
* Teens may have their driver’s license, so they may be able to help drive if your vehicle gets stuck in the snow.

When the colder weather comes, it’s important for everyone in the family to pitch in to do the chores.  It’s also important for children to learn to help with the success of the household.  To be sure everyone is helping, give them age-appropriate chores for the winter months.  When it’s time for spring cleaning, they’ll already be knowledgeable and able to take on their new chores.

Parents often go overboard when buying Christmas presents for their children, especially when that child is their first.  What parents find out, after their babies are old enough to sit up and play, is that babies usually love boxes more than the toys that were originally in them.

Don’t become too discouraged.  It happens to nearly every parent.  When someone suggests that you may not want to spend so much on actual gifts because an infant won’t be able to appreciate them, you might want to listen.  If they have children of their own, you may be able to avoid some of the same frustrations they’ve had.

What is it about boxes that draws the attention of babies?  Part of the appeal may be that boxes are large and easily manipulated.  Boxes are also lightweight so they won’t hurt if the baby drops them.  Finally, as everyone knows, nothing tastes better than cardboard!

Since babies love boxes so much, don’t fight it.  Take advantage of their interest in boxes to begin to teach them to use their imagination.  Your baby won’t totally develop their sense of imaginative play until they are pre-school age, but there’s no reason to wait too long before encouraging this type of play.

Actually, if you haven’t looked at toys lately, you can buy pretend food to use in play kitchens.  These are smaller than normal foods, so they’re easy for little children to handle.  There are also plastic foods that are safe for children to put in their mouths.

One box that parents probably have in large numbers is wipe boxes.  Not only can they be used to store small things in, they can be used to build with like building blocks.  If your baby is a boy, he can put his chunky cars in the box and then take them out and play with them.  Little girls, once they start playing with baby dolls, can put their baby’s clothes in the wipe boxes and even use the wipe box as a bed.

With babies, it seems that simple is best.  They really don’t need to have toys with all the bells and whistles.  Lights and noises at this age may get their attention, but they may not hold that attention for long.  Give them a couple of small boxes and they’ll be happy for quite some time.

As your baby grows, they have the potential to turn almost anything into a toy.  They’ll find things in your home that you may not wish them to play with, so be concerned about baby-proofing your home.

Babies grow up so fast.  One minute they’re brand new, small, and helpless.  The next thing you know, they’re trying to get around on their own.  Give them simple things to play with.  Babies love boxes and they’re great items to help them use their imagination.

Play is an important part of a child’s development.  For babies and toddlers, playing is the best way to learn.  When you engage both their curiosity and their desire to have fun, learning comes naturally.

Older children learn at school but they can also continue to learn through play.  Physical activities improve motor skills.  Toys and activities that encourage them to use their imaginations can help them develop cognitive skills.  And group activities enhance social skills.

Motor Skills

Motor skills are some of the first skills that children learn.  Gross motor skills are those that involve using a large number of muscles to make big movements, such as rolling over, crawling, running and jumping.  Fine motor skills consist of smaller movements, usually those of the hands and fingers.

Gross motor skill development can be encouraged through play.  Hopscotch is a great game for developing gross motor skills.  Playing catch or team sports are also beneficial.

Many toys are good for developing fine motor skills.  Blocks and puzzles are two of the simplest and best.  But almost any small toy can encourage the refinement of fine motor skills.

Cognitive Development

Many educational toys concentrate on cognitive development.  This includes things like remembering, problem solving and decision making.  These skills are essential for success in school and all other aspects of life.

Any activity that requires imagination has the potential to encourage problem solving and decision making skills.  Games such as Memory and Bop It can help a child develop his memory.  Adults might even benefit from playing them with their children.

Social Skills

Social skills are learned through play with other children.  Sharing and teamwork are two examples.  These skills begin to develop in the preschool years.  Proper development of social skills lays the foundation for good relationships with family and peers.

The same blocks and puzzles that help children develop fine motor skills can be used by a group of children to promote the development of social skills.  Children can work together to build something or solve the puzzle. They can share blocks with each other.  They can discuss ideas about how to best solve the puzzle.  They learn to enjoy one another’s company.  Competitive games foster healthy competition and good sportsmanship.

Kids need opportunities to play both alone and with other children.  This will ensure that motor skills, cognitive skills and social skills all have a chance to develop and flourish.  It will also add to the variety of play experiences, helping to prevent boredom.

Playing plays an important role in every child’s development.  Access to educational toys maximizes the learning opportunities that play has to offer.  Active participation from parents allows for both bonding and learning.