Presidents Day Fun!

With President's Day this coming weekend everyone is going to be looking for some great ways to get out and have some fun! Here are some awesome ways the whole family can enjoy each other and make some memories! As always visit our full events calendar for things going on!

Bounce Your Heart Out! 

Kids LOVE BounceU's Birthday Parties! But you don't need to get an invite to enjoy all the fun.

Stop by BounceU in Easton or in Allentown to bounce at any of their Open Bounce events.

You can easily take a look at what is coming up at both locations by visiting our Events Calendar or see the schedule for President's Day below.

 Open Bounce Schedule for President's Day

Easton is hosting Preschool Open Bounce on 2/20 at 10:30am

Allentown is hosting All Ages Open Bounce on 2/20 at 10:30am

Easton is hosting All Ages Open Bounce on 2/20 at 12:30pm

Allentown is hosting All Ages Open Bounce on 2/20 at 1:00pm

Get Creative at Crayola!

Color, play and create at Crayola Experience! The kids will love their interactive exhibits, indoor two story play structure and their live shows.  They are open 7 days per week including school holidays! Hours on Monday 2/20 are from 10am to 6pm.

Skip the line and save some money by pre-purchasing tickets before you go!

Current features for the month include Galactic themed art and activities throughout the facility. 

Save $4 on each ticket by pre-purchasing here! 

Loads of Lasers and Plenty of Putt Putt!

The Mill Experience is the only indoor facility that offers indoor mini golf in the area. Their space also includes an indoor food truck, and a laser tag course all under one roof. Their huge indoor facility has all the fun a family could need without stepping a foot outdoors in the cold weather.

They will be open for President's day on Monday 2/20 from 1pm to 5pm stop in anytime, no appointments are required, but they do recommend calling ahead if you have a large party of 10 or more.  

Didn't see something that is what you are looking for? 

There are hundreds of more activities waiting to be discovered on our website. 

Museums
Such as Allentown Art Museum, DaVinci Science Center, and Bethlehem Historic Sites are all waiting to be discovered by your family on your day off!

Day Tripper
Maybe a little drive was what you had in mind? We've got a great list of regional attractions just outside the Lehigh Valley that could entertain for the family!

Off the Beaten Path
Perhaps something a little more rustic was in your sights? Find a new hiking spot or space to export using our Off the Beaten Path list.

Sponsorship/Affiliate Disclaimer: 

lehighvalley.findandgoseek.net only exists because of hours upon hours of work that comes directly from the heart of a mom who wants to make the Lehigh Valley a better place to raise your family. Because of our effort we publish a resource that makes your life as a parent easier, makes the Lehigh Valley more welcoming to a family new to the area and helps make the Lehigh Valley a more vibrant and engaging place for families to grow and live. In order to make it possible to continue doing this we must find ways to generate income from our work. At times you will see posts from sponsors who pay us a fee to help them spread the word about their business or event. This article contains affiliate links from businesses that give us a very small portion of your purchase should you decide to purchase from any of our links.  Barters and fees that we receive from our sponsors and affiliates help make the website the best it can possibly be, they put food on our family's table and allow us to keep doing what we do! By patronizing the businesses who support us and by choosing to opt in to offers we share you keep lehighvalley.findandgoseek.net alive - making it possible for us to continue to provide information and engaging content for years to come. Without you and without our valued sponsors the website could not continue to operate. We love all of our LVFGS Families and thank you for you support.

DIY Waldorf Block Crayons

Block crayons are awesome for young children! They help promote proper grasps, teach different shading techniques and are super durable. These are commonly used in the early grades of Waldof Schools. For the purposes of this tutorial we used a new set of crayons because we were making them to include with Valentines for school but this is a great activity to recycle old broken crayons!

First you will need a rectangular silicone mold. I was looking for a way to make our own Block Crayons for quite a while, I was searching for the perfect mold shape that would allow us to make a bunch of crayons in one shot. I really struggled to find something that fit the bill. I've see a few people use plastic molds from eraser packaging but this seemed super labor intensive - making one at a time. I stumbled across this mold accidentally, somehow all the searches I did came up empty and finally while mistyping a search term this popped up! Order one for yourself here!

Block crayons are excellent for little ones to grasp and are awesome for shading and coloring large areas because of the wide sides, they also are much harder to break. This Mold is the perfect 1 inch by 2 inch size for making these specialized crayons. Its helpful to take a look at this video if you are unfamiliar with block crayons and how they are used. A few other fun Silicone Mold options also shown above are the Lego Men Mold  and Heart Shaped Mold (which is awesome for promoting a tripod grasp).

Start off with new or old crayons, make sure to sort them out by the different brands you might have in your stash.  Any non-crayola crayons do not do well in this project - cheaper crayons tend to have way more wax and the wax separates out from the color.  So if you need new crayons definitely grab Crayola Crayons.

Start the project by prepping them to peel by placing some warm (NOT hot, they will melt and you will have a mess) water and a pump or two of dish soap into a baking pan.  Lay out your crayons and let them soak for a few minutes. After a little bit you'll notice the paper will start to peel off of the crayon and you will be able to easily slide them out or unravel the paper. If you notice that your crayons aren't peeling try added some more warm water to your tray. If you would like to do a natural version of these using beeswax and natural pigments +The Hippy Homemaker has an awesome recipe on her blog.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.

Once your crayons are peeled and dry you can begin placing them in the molds. Fill them high! If there are a bit higher than the top of the mold that is OK the crayons will settle when they melt. If you don't fill them enough you will end up with tiny, thin crayons that will probably break when you try to remove them.

For kids the crayons may be hard to break with their hands. Adults can use a knife to chop them up or  if you want to have the kids involved try using these Handy wooden choppers that my kids used to make theirs smaller. They also love these tools for helping make dinner to chop carrots or other fresh veggies, make cheese cubes and more.   

Set a timer for 10 minutes, and with your mold placed on a cookie sheet put them in the oven. After the timer has gone off go back and check your crayons, if your crayons seem to low in the mold you can add a few additional pieces to them (these will melt faster if they are smaller pieces). Block crayons work best when they are nice and thick you'll want the spaces filled as much as possible.

Set the timer for another 5-7 minutes, after a few more minutes your crayons should all have melted. They will be ready to come out and cool. You can cool them on the counter or place in the freezer cool if if you want them ready faster. If you are making your crayons out of multiple colors I like to use a tooth pick to swirl the melted colors before they cool to give them a marbled effect.

Once cooled carefully remove your block crayons!  Our finished products turned out really awesome!

  

    

You may find If you have some colorless wax that separated from your crayons, simply shave it off using a vegetable peeler to smooth the backside of the crayon. I believe that quickly cooling your crayons in a freezer can help to reduce the wax separation on the back (top).  Its super easy to remove it and you will have beautiful and affordable block crayons you made at home!

In case you are making these for a Valentine treat! 

We've prepped a cute printable Valentine for you to include with your molded crayons! 

Download a FREE printable PDF to make your own Crayon Valentines

Sponsorship/Affiliate Disclaimer: 

lehighvalley.findandgoseek.net only exists because of hours upon hours of work that comes directly from the heart of a mom who wants to make the Lehigh Valley a better place to raise your family. Because of our effort we publish a resource that makes your life as a parent easier, makes the Lehigh Valley more welcoming to a family new to the area and helps make the Lehigh Valley a more vibrant and engaging place for families to grow and live. In order to make it possible to continue doing this we must find ways to generate income from our work. At times you will see posts from sponsors who pay us a fee to help them spread the word about their business or event. This article contains affiliate links from businesses that give us a very small portion of your purchase should you decide to purchase from any of our links.  Barters and fees that we receive from our sponsors and affiliates help make the website the best it can possibly be, they put food on our family's table and allow us to keep doing what we do! By patronizing the businesses who support us and by choosing to opt in to offers we share you keep lehighvalley.findandgoseek.net alive - making it possible for us to continue to provide information and engaging content for years to come. Without you and without our valued sponsors the website could not continue to operate. We love all of our LVFGS Families and thank you for you support.

DIY Molded Crayons and Block Crayons and Free Printable Valentine

For the past two years we've prepared Valentines treats for school using fun molded crayons! I took the time this year to document the process to share it on the blog. This is such a fun indoor activity that is perfect for a rainy or snowy afternoon. It is a great way to include a "treat" or a little something extra with your kiddo's valentines without any allergy issues or extra sugar.

First you will need a few silicone molds. You can find these in the baking aisle, or where the ice cube trays are, sometimes you can snag some in the $1 bins at Target. Any shape will do!

We had some Lego men, Hearts and a new one I just purchased for the purpose of creating some Block Crayons (these are commonly used in my kids' school) and I wanted to make some for home. Block crayons are excellent for little ones to grasp and are awesome for shading and coloring large areas because of the wide sides, they also are much harder to break. This mold is the perfect 1 inch by 2inch size for making these specialized crayons. Its helpful to take a look at this video if you are unfamiliar with block crayons and how theirs used. If you interested in grabbing some molds for yourself. Links to the ones we used here are embedded below and above.

Lego Men Mold

Block Crayon Mold
Heart Shaped Mold

Start off with new or old crayons (this is a great way to recycle old and broken crayons!) and prep to peel them by placing some warm (not hot) water and a pump or two of dish soap into a baking pan. Lay out your crayons and let them soak for a few minutes. After a little bit you'll notice the paper will start to peel off of the crayon and you will be able to easily slide them out or unravel the paper. If you notice that your crayons aren't peeling try added some more warm water to your tray.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.

Once your crayons are peeled and dry you can begin placing them in the molds. Fill them high! If there are a bit higher than the top of the mold that is OK the crayons will settle when they melt. If you don't fill them enough you will end up with really tiny, thin crayons that will probably break when you try to remove them.

With smaller molds it may be hard to break the crayons with your hands so they are small enough. Adults can use a knife to chop them up or we use these Handy wooden choppers that my kids used to make theirs smaller. They love these tools for helping make dinner to chop carrots or other fresh veggies, make cheese cubes and more. 

Set a timer for 10 minutes, and with your mold on a cookie sheet put them in the oven. After the timer has gone off go back and check your crayons, if your crayons seem to low in the mold you can add a few additional pieces to them. Set the timer for another 7 minutes, after 7 more minutes your crayons should all have melted. They will be ready to come out and cool. You can cool them on the counter or place in the freezer cool if if you want them ready faster. I like to use a tooth pick to swirl the melted colors before they cool to give them a marbled effect.

Once cooled carefully remove your molded crayons! Molds with more details (such as the lego men) will require more caution when removing (we had one casualty).  Our finished products turned out really awesome! 

  

    

If you find you have some clear wax that separated from your crayons, simply shave it off using a vegetable peeler to smooth the backside of the crayon. 

We've prepped a cute printable Valentine for you to include with your molded crayons! 

Download a FREE printable PDF to make your own Crayon Valentines

Sponsorship/Affiliate Disclaimer: 

lehighvalley.findandgoseek.net only exists because of hours upon hours of work that comes directly from the heart of a mom who wants to make the Lehigh Valley a better place to raise your family. Because of our effort we publish a resource that makes your life as a parent easier, makes the Lehigh Valley more welcoming to a family new to the area and helps make the Lehigh Valley a more vibrant and engaging place for families to grow and live. In order to make it possible to continue doing this we must find ways to generate income from our work. At times you will see posts from sponsors who pay us a fee to help them spread the word about their business or event. This article contains affiliate links from businesses that give us a very small portion of your purchase should you decide to purchase from any of our links.  Barters and fees that we receive from our sponsors and affiliates help make the website the best it can possibly be, they put food on our family's table and allow us to keep doing what we do! By patronizing the businesses who support us and by choosing to opt in to offers we share you keep lehighvalley.findandgoseek.net alive - making it possible for us to continue to provide information and engaging content for years to come. Without you and without our valued sponsors the website could not continue to operate. We love all of our LVFGS Families and thank you for you support.