{DIY} Recycled Crayons

It’s either the teacher in me, or the artist in me, but I find myself getting giddy this time of year when stores stock school supplies for cheap. It’s the time of year I like to grab a few extra boxes/bottles/packages to keep on hand throughout the year. Besides, you never know when a new box of crayons will make your day!

This recycled crayon project is one my mom and I used to do to “use up” my old crayons. It’s a pretty popular project though–I’ve seen a few versions popping up around blogworld recently.

Since we just bought some new crayons, making “new ones” seemed like the perfect boredom buster and so I had my kids start by sorting through our old ones. . . . And then they loved having permission to peel the paper off!

Then we broke the crayons into small pieces, another thing they loved having permission to do. After they broke up the crayons I used a knife to chop them up a bit smaller, but I don’t know that this was necessary. . . . next time I’ll probably just let them go nuts and break and call it good.

(If you have a preschooler, this step would be a good activity to practice colors and sorting.)

Then we filled a mini muffin tin to the top with the broken bits. (Forgot to take a picture of this step, but you’ll want to fill the tins full as they melt down.) We kept some of the new crayons monochromatic (there’s an art word to teach your kids!), and others were a variety of colors.

Tip: Since I actually use this muffin tin, I lined the tins with mini muffin papers for easier clean-up. It would be fun to use different shaped tins or silicone molds for this project too!

Bake at 250F for about 15 minutes or until the bits of crayons have melted.

Allow to cool, then pop out of the tins, and have fun with your new crayons!!

Linked to: Tip Junkie, Craft-O-Maniac, Quirky Mom, Line Across My Face, Family Ever After, Homemaker on a Dime, Delicate Construction, Today’s Creative Blog, Someday Crafts, Lil’ Luna,