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DIY Campfire Starters

DIY Campfire Starters are an easy, kid-friendly craft made with simple nature hunt items—perfect for camping, bonfires, and teaching outdoor skills.
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Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Cooling Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Servings: 12

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Begin this craft with a nature hunt! Head outside and gather natural materials that will fuel your fire—tiny twigs, mini pinecones, dried grass, leaves, and flowers all work well, just make sure they are dry.
  • After your nature hunt, melt the soy wax flakes in a small slow cooker set to medium/high OR you can use a double boiler. Melting the wax flakes should take about 30 minutes, so start melting the wax first and it will slowly melt while you work on the rest of the project.
  • Place the items from your nature scavenger hunt into silicone cupcake liners. Break or cut into smaller pieces as needed. Add as many or as few items as you'd like to each cupcake liner to create your custom campfire starters.
  • Once the wax has fully melted, carefully pour it over your nature finds in the cupcake liners.
  • After pouring the wax and while it is still liquid, insert a candle wick into the center of each fire starter. Try to position it so the wick reaches the bottom. If your wicks are too long, trim them with scissors and reuse any extra pieces in another fire starter.
  • Let the wax cool and harden at room temperature. This should take about 1 hour.
  • Once the wax is fully set, remove each campfire starter from its silicone cupcake holder.
  • To use the campfire starters, build a campfire and place a campfire starter underneath, next to the kindling. Light the wick, and watch as your campfire grows! Always ask an adult before lighting a campfire.
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