A great craft to do with the kids on a day when it’s too hot to go outside: RECYCLED CRAYONS! They are so easy and fun to do and the possibilities are endless!
Here’s what you do:
Find a bunch of old or broken crayons. Remove all of the wrappers. Break the crayons into small pieces and place into a muffin tin or silicone pan (we used a mini brownie pan made of silicone that I had on hand). Place in the oven at 275 degrees for 15 minutes, or until melted. (If using silicone, I recommend placing it on a firm cookie sheet before putting into the oven.) Remove from the oven and let your new crayons set completely, about 1 hour. Then, pop them out and color away!
The boys just loved this project and we came up with a lot of ideas for next time:
- I would use an Xacto knife to cut slits down the paper before peeling the wrappers off of the crayons. This step took the longest and we had some trouble with the older crayons (the paper tended to stick more).
- I want to try to make crayons in different shapes. I know they have candy molds at Michaels for pretty cheap, which would work perfectly for this craft! How adorable would they be as party favors?
- I think it would be neat to combine two colors into one space. Once you have them all melted, swirl the colors with a stick!
I've never heard of that before! Cool!