Modelling beeswax

A mama in our homeschooling group organized a co-op order of Waldorf modelling beeswax off Etsy recently, and of course I had to order some. We received it on Monday, but we were so busy this week I forgot about it until one of the boys found the box in my knitting bag late last night.

I woke up this morning to Eldest saying, "NOW can we get out the beeswax?!"

The colors are so lovely and inviting, we all wanted to dive right in. But one of the qualities of the wax is that it requires patience.


First, you cut the round into small quarter circles. Then you let them sit in a bowl of hot water for 10-15 minutes. (The instructions said 5-10, but that was definitely not enough.) The more patient you are, the easier it will be to work the wax.

It was helpful to keep a bowl of hot water and a towel on the table, so the wax would stay warm in between handlings. I needed to get the wax started before it was soft enough for their small hands to work with.

We spent over an hour exploring this new medium, so very different from my homemade playdough. The beeswax was not what the boys were expecting at first, but they slowly developed a fondness for creating with it.

Of course, I had visions of tiny woodland creatures dancing in my head -- and they had cacti and tombstones and bullets and anacondas in theirs.


But together we made a cute little mushroom (and cacti with a hat) forest, where Mr. and Mrs. Beeswax lived with their pet anaconda.