Wax Drip Art – Letter W Week (Catch Up Post)

I never did get all of our Letter W week activities posted so I’m going to try to catch up on those before moving on to this years activities.

Here’s another art project I found lurking on my camera:

For this project you’ll need:

Some sort of thick paper (construction paper, watercolor paper, cardstock, or similar)

Pillar candles (We used some leftover Christmas candles.)

A lighter or matches

Tape (optional)

& a mature child
(NOT optional! This project involves fire and could be very dangerous! I did it with my oldest son with water nearby, and while his younger brothers were sleeping. Please use your own good judgment and take appropriate precautions before deciding to do this project with your child.)

First you’ll want to tape your paper down. This step is really optional, but for safety’s sake I’d recommend it.

Next light one of your candles, hand it to your child carefully, and have them angle the candle down so that the wax drips on the paper. Dude needed to be reminded a few times to point the candle down.

Now just get creative with it!
As Dude worked on his art, he made observations about how the wax melted and spattered as it hit his paper, & how it sometimes puddled when the drops were close together. We also used this as an opportunity to talk about the solid wax melting and turning into a liquid, then cooling back into a solid.

So proud of the finished product!

Another Safety Note: You’ll notice from the pictures that I started my son off standing in a chair. I did this so it’d be more natural for him to hold the candle higher away from the flammable paper. He did sit down later, but I do think it helped him initially. I didn’t want any burning paper experiments here just yet!