Prewriting with Crayons!

Now the the Bug is 18 months, I'm trying to introduce more while letting his interests guide us. He has been super interested in coloring lately and we're doing it more and more. As he gets more skilled, I've put away the markers and focus more on materials that he has to put pressure on to make marks in order to continue his journey to writing! 

His grip is changing and it's so exciting! While he's still not using a traditional grip, he's using more directed pressure from his pointer finger to make marks!

A GREAT addition to your art area is crayon cakes! We use broken crayons (or buy used crayons at the thrift store!) and melt them in Silicone baking molds! These happened to be ones I made over the winter holidays but they have molds in all sorts of shapes!

Simply, unwrap crayons, break so they fit into your mold and bake them at 200 degrees until the crayons have melted. (My current oven takes 5-10 minutes depending on crayon thickness!) when they're melted, take them out and let cool in the molds- silicone stretches well to release the crayons!