Have a drawer or storage lying around of old crayons, broken crayons, crayons that never get touched. When we moved into this house, the previous owners left a drawer of crayons in it, we built more to it over time, and finally decided to make something of the crayons that never seem to be touched or used. It is super easy to do, took about 3 hours for them to be finally done through the steps.
You can use molds, cupcake pans, or get a cookie sheet layer it with wax paper and use cookie cutters to make your final designs. Its pretty easy process and will keep your little ones busy for a long time.
So for the first steps the most boring and very long process of it all is ripping the paper off all the crayons. We used a red plastic bowl for the paper pieces. I used a knife to slice the paper off, while my 5-year-old broke the crayons in half, you can break them into fours. You want to fill each one to the rim, as they will melt down, and become less than what you will see below. You can do creative colors, or just mix them up as you please.
Preheat the oven to 275, and cook them for 10-20 minutes depending the amount you put in. We got them done in ten minutes. When you open the oven you will see them as just liquid and that’s it. Once you take them out, take a toothpick and stir them around, of course that is optional.
Now these can sit on the counter to cool down, or you can put them in the fridge to help them cool faster. We just sat them on the counter and took about an hour to cool down, and took the pan upside down and dropped in on the counter to pop them out. They should just fall out on any non stick pan, no need to grease or flour them up. While they are still warm you can carve them into anything or use cookie cutters to make your final designs. Then they are ready to be colored with.
When you flip them over they have a better look and design to them. The top layer is pretty bland looking, but the underneath part looks way more creative and prettier for sure.
HOW TO DO
- Preheat the oven to 275
- Rip off all the papers on them
- Break them in half or into 4’s
- Fill your mold or pan to the rim
- Leave in oven for 10-20 minutes (you will smell them when they’re done)
- Let sit on counter or fridge until they are cooled down
- Then pop them out, and ready to be used.
Optional use something to stir them with when pulled out of the oven