Sometimes preschool has the BEST craft inspiration. I had forgotten all about melting crayons on waxed paper until I went to pick up my son last week and saw they made melted wax leaves for fall. Instantly I knew that I wanted to use the same method to make this Melted Crayon Turkey craft for a Thanksgiving craft. They are mostly kid-friendly (a kid’s got to learn to use the iron sometime, right? Totally joking, I did the ironing part) and pretty simple to make.
These turkeys, with melted crayon feathers, can be used in a bunch of different ways. They can be strung on a wall like a garland, used as place settings, or as an activity for the kids while Thanksgiving dinner is being prepared (just do the melted crayon part ahead of time).
To make the melted crayon turkey feathers, protect your workspace with kraft paper or a brown paper bag. Figure out what size you want your turkey feathers to be and double that for the length of waxed paper. Essentially you will fold the wax paper in half and the wax will end up between those two pieces. Pick your crayon colors and a way to shave it. I couldn’t find a crayon sharpener so I used the blade from scissors. They weren’t very sharp so I didn’t lose any fingers but I would suggest picking up an inexpensive sharpener to do this dirty work for you, safely. 
Shave the crayons all over one side of your folded waxed paper. You want it to be pretty full but not really thick. When done, fold over the waxed paper, place a sheet of kraft paper on top and use a medium hot iron (I dumped the water out of mine). As you can see, some of the crayon seeps through. BE SURE TO DOUBLE CHECK THAT YOU CLEAN OFF ALL THE CRAYON IF ANY GOT ON YOUR IRON OR YOU WILL RUIN YOUR CLOTHES THE NEXT TIME YOU PRESS THEM! Again, clean off your iron after it cools. I experimented a bit with how to use the iron. The middle part was with an iron left on for a longer period (still just a second or two — it melts very quickly), the outer parts, where you can see more speckled color was sort of stamping the iron on those areas instead of dragging the iron across those places. I like being able to see more of the colors and have it not get so runny. But the choice is yours. 
Let them cool (they cool very quickly). Here are the four different color combos I created. The part that took the most time was the crayon shaving. I found removing the labels to be kind of difficult which surprised me since my kids seem to have no problem, whatsoever, removing crayon labels and do it whenever they see a crayon. In tiny little pieces. All over my carpet. 
Next, cut out the turkey feathers. I just made a scalloped pattern around a half circle. It doesn’t need to be perfect. 
Using scrapbook paper (I prefer patterned paper but this is where you can really customize them to your liking) cut out a body shape, a beak, legs and a red flappy thingy. A waddle? Is that what it is called?
Using Glue Dots or another adhesive, assemble your turkey.
I am in love with the googly eyes I found at my craft store. They give these turkeys so much personality! There are so many ways that these turkeys can end up looking. And I love how much color they can add to a table setting.
Have you ever made a melted crayon craft before? I’m kind of in love with how it looks. This is my favorite turkey right here. He’ll definitely be sitting at my spot at the Thanksgiving table.
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Super cute!! Love this idea!
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