Candle Making

Each year when the holidays roll around, I begin thinking of a craft my students can make to give their parents for Christmas.  This year I decided to revisit a craft I made years ago with students.  After visiting Wonder #443 How Do You Make Candles? and discussing how candles are made, we began making our candles for Christmas gifts.  A mom that came in to help out was amazed at how simple and easy the process was, so I thought I would share.  This would be a great activity to do with kids while they are out of school during Winter Break or out of school for a snow day.

Materials:

• an old crockpot
• old candles to melt down (great way to recycle)
• candle wicks
• molds
• optional glitter to sprinkle on top
• an old measuring cup for pouring the wax into molds
• old spoon(s) for stirring

Directions:

• Place the crockpot on high.
• Place old candles in the crockpot to melt.  It can take up to an hour to melt larger candles.  
• Scrape soft wax off the candles to help the melting process.
• Once there is enough wax melted, you can start pouring the wax into molds.  
• When the candles start to get stiff, add the wick and optional glitter.  You can reuse the wicks from the melted candles, but will also need to buy some at a craft store.
• Once the candles have cooled in the molds (about 30 minutes), they pop right out of the rubber molds.

Another great Wonder to visit as a follow-up to this craft is Wonder #276 Does Matter Really Matter? to help explain the solid and liquid of this activity.