In this craft project, make new crayons out of old broken ones. Your kids will have fun making crayons that are better than new. At the same time, they will learn about how crayons are formed, and how to combine colors. The recycled crayons also make a good gift when placed in a cellophane or plastic bag tied with pretty ribbon or yarn.
This project requires few materials and is great for family, classroom or group craft time. Adult supervision is required when melting the crayons. Hot wax can burn!
Related crafts: Melt crayon shavings to create Stained Glass Leaves or melt old candles to make Homemade Waxed Paper.
Read through the project, then gather the materials needed for making the recycled crayons. Look for mini-muffin pans at garage sales and thrift shops. You might even find ones with fun shapes like hearts or stars. Cover your work area with newspaper. Preheat the oven to 200°F (95°C).
Remove all the paper on the crayons. The kids can do this while you get the other things ready. It will be easier to peel the crayons if you score the paper with a knife first.
Sort the crayon pieces by color. Make piles of red, blue, green, and yellow crayons. Other colors can be placed in their own piles or in the pile that they match best—put purple crayons in the blue pile and orange crayons in the red pile.
Break up any large pieces. Cut the crayons to about pea-size on a scrap of wood using an old knife.
Place the mini-muffin pan on an old cookie sheet. Fill each well in the mini-muffin pan about ½ to ¾ full with pieces of crayon. Use all one color, or combine two or more colors to create a new color of crayon. Mix red and yellow pieces to make orange, red and blue for purple, or blue and yellow for green. Let the children mix the colors as they like.
Place the muffin pan on the cookie sheet in an oven preheated to 200°F (95°C) for 15 to 20 minutes, until the crayons have melted. Carefully remove the cookie sheet with the mini-muffin pan from the oven using oven mitts. For smoother colors, use toothpicks to stir the melted crayon wax. Set the pans aside to cool for 30 minutes to an hour.
Pop the cooled crayons out of the mini-muffin pans. If you have trouble getting the crayons out, put the pan in the freezer for a few minutes.
That's it! Your recycled crayons
are ready to use!