[manualidad en español]

Use this as a craft you can hang in your window or make it as a card for a special friend.

There is an option at the bottom for younger kids, instead of melting crayons.

Materials:

• waxed paper
• wax crayons (Crayola don't work as well as the cheap kind for this project, though they do still work)
• manual pencil sharpener (with a fairly large hole)
• iron, ironing board and scrap paper (white computer paper or brown paper bag)
• construction paper
• scissors
• glue stick

Instructions:

• ADULT:  Plug in the iron and cover the ironing board with scrap paper.  Set the iron to medium (no steam).
• Tear a piece of waxed paper that's square (or a bit longer than it is wide) and fold it in half.  Then unfold.

• Take the paper off some crayons and 'sharpen' them in the pencil sharpener.  Let the shavings drop onto 1/2 the waxed paper.
• Feel free to use 3 or 4 different colors.
• When you have a nice pile of shavings refold the waxed paper.
• Fold about 1/2 inch around all the edges so none of the wax leaks out when you iron.
• Place the waxed paper containing the shavings down on the ironing board and cover with more scrap paper.
• Iron for about 10 seconds.  Peek and iron a bit more if necessary.  All the wax should melt.  The longer you iron, the more your colors will mix.
• Let sit about 30 seconds to cool.
• Take a piece of construction paper and fold in half.
• Crease well.
• Fold in half again, but this time, don't crease it very much (the less you crease it the better, but young children may need it creased quite well).
• Cut out a half cross shape.  You can do this freehand or draw it on for small children to cut out.

• 

  This is a photo of us doing a heart,
  but the process is the same

  Unfold the construction paper and you'll find a 'card' type shape with a cross through the middle of it.
• Put your waxed paper ("stained glass") into the middle and figure out where you're going to position it.  With a pen trace around a line for where you'll want to trim the waxed paper.  The pen won't make a pen mark, but it will leave a white line on the paper.
     
• Cut out the waxed paper.  Try not to fold it -- the wax will crack if you do.
• Open up the construction paper.
• Use a glue stick to trace around the cross shape on one side of the construction paper
• Glue the waxed paper down.
• Trace around the other cross (on the other side of the construction paper) and around the edges of the construction paper and fold down so the waxed paper is sandwiched.

OPTIONAL: 

Thanks Geri for sending this in!
"Have the kids color a picture with crayons.  They can color dark or light - it doesn't matter but the darker sometimes looks better.  They really do look like stained glass pictures, especially if the picture had heavy black lines."

• Use crayons, NOT markers or colored pencils.
• Have a few bowls with a VERY small amount of cooking oil and a couple of cotton balls in them.
• Have the kids flip the pages over and slowly and thoroughly rub the cotton balls on the paper. (You'll see the paper turn transparent and the colors come through).
• Put them aside to dry (usually doesn't take long)!
• Cut them out and either hang them as is with a hole punched in them or framed.

OPTIONAL: 

Thanks Terri for sending this in!
"I have done for this to make it more suitable for younger kids. Instead of using wax paper and melting crayons..."

• Use clear contact paper and tissue paper pieces.
• Put Contact Paper piece sticky side up on the table (may need to tape it down).
• Let kids stick tissue paper pieces to the sticky paper.
• Cover with another piece of Contact Paper sandwiching the tissue in between.
• Frame with dark construction paper (with cross shape removed) as directed.
  

Printable version of these instructions