Anyone with young kids (or has retained their youthful spirit) surely has got a home full of crayons, and that means also a lot of crayon stubs that are not easy to use. Most people just throw these out, but you can actually save these and create brand new crayons. The process is quite simple and you can even involve the kids. These also make for great gifts and party favors.
What You Need
You don’t need a whole lot of materials for this project. You’ll need the broken crayons, a knife, and an old muffin tin. If you don’t have a muffin tin, you can also line a regular muffin tin with tin foil. If you have molds, especially with fun shapes, feel free to use those as well. Silicone molds are ideal since it’s really easy to get the finished product out of them easily.
What To Do
Gather all of your used up and broken crayons and unwrap them. Cut them into small pieces (this part should be done by an adult). The adult should preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Fill the muffin tin cups or molds with a layer of crayons that’s about one inch thick.You can separate the crayon bits by color or even mix things up if you wish to create rainbow crayons.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on how long it takes for the wax to melt. You should keep an eye on how things are progressing, so it’s best to stay close by. If you see any smoke, immediately remove them from the oven. Let the crayons cool and harden completely, then remove them from the tin. They’re now ready to use!
Other Things You Can Do
You can also make old crayons into candles as well as fire starts by using lint or pinecones.
Try making a solar crayon candle if it is a sunny day out. Place a wick in the middle of an old jar and then fill it up with old and broken crayons. Lay out a piece of tin foil on the ground and set the jar on it. Let it sit in the sun until the crayons melt, gradually adding more until the jay is full. Make sure you have enough length on the wick so the candle can burn properly by measuring the diameter or the jar.