Ava's Kindergarten Valentines Day Party

I loved Valentines Day as a kid and getting all the cards from friends at school.  I secretly loved the ones I got from boys because I would pretend they were TRUE valentines and that they liked me. :)  I know, but hey, now we know where my daughter gets it.  One thing I don't remember though is getting as much candy as my kids did this year as valentines, but maybe I don't remember it because I wasn't the parent dealing with the hyper activity that follows. :)  Anyway, so I decided a few weeks before valentines day, that we would do something homemade. 
We seem to have a TON of broken and mixed crayon pieces laying around our house so I have been collecting them and saving them.  The first step was to peel the broken pieces and set them aside in a heart shaped Tin.  The fun part for me was finding which colors would look good together. :)  I think this was the most fun for the kids too.  Ava did NOT like the peeling part so I got to do the majority of that, which takes a LONG time. :)

Once we enough crayon pieces in the tins, we would pop them in the oven for a few minutes to let them melt and mold together to form a perfect heart.  Then when they came out and after they cooled, we would wrap them in Saran wrap and Ava wrote the names of her classmates on them.  This was perfect for her and her handwriting.  She had so much fun since this was something SHE was doing for herself.

 

The finished Product. . . . Numerous hours invested and 22 heart shaped crayons later.  She was so very proud.  I was excited that I felt this idea would be a pretty original one.  I was wrong.  Ava has a really cool student teacher that Actually had the same idea and hers turned out so pretty.  Ava came home and said, "mom, look.  My teacher did these too."  :)  I thought it was funny.