Spring Cleaning Crayon Craft!

Celebrating spring with a craft that highlights two things Grabbits love — cleaning and reinvention!

As the story goes, “Toys and clothes that seemed forsaken, find new life when Grabbits take them.”

In this Grabbits-inspired activity, cleaning out old crayons helps them find new life. No Grabbits needed — just grab a grown-up, a junk box of old crayons, and a silicone mold.

For best results, check out what I did below, plan your steps, and brainstorm safety considerations like having pot holders on hand, setting a timer, and using an oven with a fan that vents to the outside. (I didn’t notice any fumes, but safety first! Who knows what comes off heated crayons, so why not err on the side of caution?)

The silicone mold I used is available here, along with the manufacturer’s instructions for making molded crayons. As with any craft, be sure to refer to the instructions that come with your equipment and exercise your own judgement to keep the fun safe. Here’s what I did…

Step 1: Unwrap!

Easiest to soak the paper off, but I had a hard time letting go of my childhood crayons, so I enjoyed revisiting my memories of each color as I read its name and peeled its wrapper.

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Step 2: Chunk!

Working outside to minimize mess, I cut the crayons into .25” chunks and filled in gaps with smaller pieces and crumbles. Definitely use tools you don’t care about.

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Step 3: Fill and bake!

Filled the molds to the top and found the crayons shrank by 25% after melting. Baked at 200º on a foil-lined tray for 14 min, then raised the temp to 225º because I was impatient. Continued for three rounds of 4 minutes. Crayons can burn, so definitely use a timer and watch them carefully!

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Step 4: Wait…wait…release!

Total bake time came to about 22 minutes, and I still had to loosen a few chunks with a toothpick after taking them out. The crayons will look translucent while hot.

The hardest part was waiting for them to cool completely. Give it a few hours or overnight. Then gently stretch the silicone in different directions to loosen before pressing each individual letter up and out. Work gently to avoid cracking the crayons. Patience pays off!

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Here they are! I organized the alphabet in rainbow order and grouped the colors by hue and temperature to fill each letter, but options for creativity are endless! Seeing the results, I’d add more contrasting shades within a letter to get more variation when drawing with multiple edges at one time.

Feel inspired to make your own crayons? Tag @thegrabbits on Instagram or post your pics on The Grabbits FB page to show off your results! Or, as always, feel free to email hello@zeitkite.com to share what you’ve been up to!

Tell the Future with a Tool from the Past!

Been looking for way to know what will happen next in these topsy-turvy times? Well, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s curators offered up an idea straight out of antiquity this week. When the Grabbits saw the Greenstone polyhedron that @metgreekandroman posted, they realized the 20-sided carved rocks they swiped back in Ancient Greece were actually dice the Ancient Greeks used to try to tell the future! (To think the Grabbits have been trying to play badminton with them all these years.🤣) What luck to learn this now! Feels like the perfect time to revive the practice by making our own. Download the free printable below and check out the how-to video above to get started.

Want to color in your die? It’s easier if you color before you cut!

Here are some tips before you begin. First, the example in the video was printed on regular copy paper. Heavier paper will give sturdier results. Second, if you want to have some fun coloring your die, it will be easier to color it in before you cut it out. (Crayons or color pencils work best because they won’t soak through the paper.) Third, be sure to cut the pattern out in one piece with the tabs attached. To do this, cut along the solid outside line. Don’t cut the dotted lines. (The dotted lines are for folding back the tabs.) Finally, you may want to cut out the Greek Alphabet chart and keep it handy as you use your die.

Ready to get crafting? Let’s go! Download the printable below.

Love what you’ve made? Post a photo of it or—even better—a video of it being used on Instagram and tag @thegrabbits and @metgreekandroman to show off your work!

If you’ve enjoyed this activity, please give it a like on Instagram or Facebook, share it with someone, and follow @thegrabbits to show your support!

Wondering how to use your die? Check out @metgreekandroman to see how they explained it in their post.

The Grabbits have come up with two other options to adapt this practice to modern times:

1. Write words that stand for predictions. Toss the die. See what letter comes up on top. Match it to the prediction that starts with the same letter. Or…

2. Think of a question. Write 20 answers to it that each start with a different letter from the die. Toss the tie and match the letter on top to the answer that starts with it.

   Note: The die doesn’t use all the letters in the Greek alphabet. So, if you’re using the Greek alphabet chart to pick the letters you use for your predictions, don’t use the letters in the bottom row.

Have fun and let us know how it goes!

Let's make Starflakes!

The world is crazy right now. Why not take a break from the madness and practice some mindfulness making starflakes? Starflake is the Grabbits’ word for Froebel Star. Froebel stars are named for Friedrich Froebel, the innovative 19th-century German educator who came up with the idea for kindergarten. An architect by training, Froebel invented a series of toys that taught young children key skills by playing with shapes. While his star may appear complicated, it’s simple if you break it down into parts and make it in steps. Watch the video above and read on below to learn how!

Starflakes in 10 Easy Steps:

1. Grab some paper, scissors, glue, thread, and a paper clip. This is a great project to use up unwanted notepads. You’ll need 7 sheets of paper, one sheet to make each of the 7 segments that form the star. I used an old 5 x 8 notepad.

2. You can turn a rectangular sheet of paper into a square by folding one corner up to meet the long edge. Cut off the unwanted end.

3. Fold the triangle again, corner to corner, to make a smaller triangle. My small triangle measured 3.5 in.

4. Divide the length of the triangle by 5. It doesn’t have to be exact. You can fudge it. Just try to fudge all 7 pieces the same. I switched to centimeters to make it easier.

5. Mark off the five segments by making 4 dots on each of the folded sides of the triangle. (Starting with a 5 x 8.5 inch notepad, I ended up drawing four lines that were approximately 2 cm apart. Don’t have a metric ruler? No worries. If your starting square was 5 inches, put your marks just a tad in from 3/4 inch. Exact? No, but I lined up the ruler the same way on each piece, so it looks even in the end.)

6. Starting on the open side, cut on the lines towards the opposite side with the closed fold. Don’t cut all the way across. STOP cutting just before you reach the fold.

7. Open the folded triangle back up to the square.

8. Curl the cut squares in and glue the corners. Alternate the direction of the curls. This makes one segment. Repeat the steps above to make 7 segments total.

9. Glue the sides and points of each segment to its neighbor. Pinch and hold each one as you go to help it stick.

10. Slip a paper clip onto the joint between one of the pairs of segments. Cut a length of thread, slip it through the paper clip, and hang.

Can’t wait to see what you make! If you love how yours turn out, post a pic on Instagram and tag @thegrabbits.

Home for the Holidays Paper Craft Packet Gift

Pssst…The Grabbits have a special gift for their fans! Download the free Home for the Holidays Paper Craft Packet below to make your own Christmas ornament or Festival of Lights pop-up. Choose between the two different base houses and their matching interior decorations or mix and match to make your own uniquely festive creation!

Download the free packet below. The examples in the how-to videos were printed on regular white copy paper. A heavier matte photo paper would yield even more vivid, durable results.

Each set in the packet has written instructions. For a visual guide, check out the how-to videos above to see how it all comes together. For this project, be sure to work on a clean, dry surface (ideally a cutting mat) and to gather glue, tape, scissors, a ruler, and a precision craft knife for cutting (like an X-Acto knife with a good blade). Please note: children and the accident prone may need help cutting safely with the knife.

Love your creation? Share it on Instagram and tag @thegrabbits so we can see what you’ve made!