What's the best thing to do with old, broken crayons? Recycle them! This is a great rainy (or overly hot) day project, that is both fun and useful.
The Ingredients.
--old crayons--muffin tin or candy mold.
I was ecstatic to find a 6-hole, throw-away muffin tin at the grocery store. I really want to try and make cupcakes.
In order for it to fit in my 6qt oval Smart-Pot, I needed to trim the edge a little with some scissors, but afterward I did that, it fit nicely into the crockpot.
My friends have candy molds that fit in their crock perfectly, and next time I'm at the craft store I'm going to look for them. --kid helpers.The Directions.
Sort the crayons into color families, and peel the wrappers off. It helps to soak the crayons in some warm water before peeling.Break the crayons into small pieces, and load into the candy mold or muffin tin. It's best to mound the crayons up a bit; they will melt and shrink down.
Put the tin or mold into the crock, cover, and turn on. We cooked our crayons on high for 1.5 hours.
Once the crayons have melted completely, your crayons are done. Let the hot wax sit in the crock and begin to harden before trying to remove the pan--- you don't want hot crayon wax spilled, or to get burnt.
Refrigerate the pan for 30 minutes, or until the crayons have hardened completely and pull away from the edges. Pop out and enjoy!
The Verdict.
This was a fun project to do. We were surprised at how easy some crayons peeled, and how others needed to soak for quite a while to loosen the wrapper.
We also noticed that crayola crayons sunk, while the generic crayons floated.
The same thing happened in the melting process---the generic wax floated to the top, and the deep crayola color sunk to the bottom---which meant that in order to get a nice color, the kids need to use the bottom of the crayon.
I will make these again. They were easy and the kids had a ball.
More Fun Stuff in The CrockPot:
playdoughcandlessoapshrinky dinksSalt Dough OrnamentsCrockPot as an Air FreshenerUse your Slow Cooker as a Foot bath!
What a great idea, Steph. I remember melting old crayons with my mom when I was a tyke. Good memories.
June 24, 2008 at 7:09 AM
You are one crazy gal! What a great idea! Did any spill over into the crockpot? Easy to get off?
June 24, 2008 at 7:24 AM
My mom has done this in the oven. Great way to recycle old broken crayons - and so fun for kids to use!
June 24, 2008 at 7:42 AM
That is so creative and great! I don't have kids but remember the huge basket on top of the fridge full of broken crayons.
June 24, 2008 at 7:46 AM
Oh my god! I never would have thought of this. Thanks for the tip!
June 24, 2008 at 10:17 AM
Sheesh woman! You think of everything. We did this in the oven once, and didn't use liners in the muffin tin. I don't have that muffin tin anymore...
June 24, 2008 at 11:39 AM
fun idea!
so you just left them to harden in the muffin shape?
okay, if yes...what can you do with them after that?
June 24, 2008 at 1:09 PM
great idea! I'm going to make lots of these to use at my preschool
June 24, 2008 at 1:15 PM
Wow - you are so full of good ideas. I haven't seen anything on your site I wouldn't like to try! Thanks for all the great tips!!!
June 24, 2008 at 2:54 PM
Hmm....what do you do with a huge muffin-shaped crayon? Maybe you can take them and grate them with your cheese shredder (is that even a word?!) and sprinkle it between two sheets of wax paper. Iron it flat. Then, cut into various shapes, maybe like snowflakes, and hang them in a window as a sun catcher! Otherwise...humm?
June 24, 2008 at 4:26 PM
creative idea cathy, one could do that without melting them together though, right? I want to do that with my guy! :D
peace~
June 24, 2008 at 5:01 PM
But you never said: how did they taste??
June 24, 2008 at 5:04 PM
I love this post and your blog! I just added you to my blog roll.
June 24, 2008 at 6:48 PM
How FUN!!
June 24, 2008 at 7:11 PM
I must say, this one blew me away! Who-wudda-thought!
I'm going out and getting me a foil muffin tin today, just amazing!
Johnr, That's funny!!
June 25, 2008 at 8:10 AM
Thanks for the great idea. We tried this yesterday and it was so fun! My boys had fun helping to peel the wrappers and break up the crayons. We had a big bucket of old broken crayons so this was perfect for recycling them. I was worried about spilling so I lined the crock pot with foil and that worked great.
June 25, 2008 at 11:11 AM
This is the best idea ever!!! Fantastic. I can't wait to have enough broken crayons to try this out. I'm super stoked on this idea. Way to go! :) Mentioned it in today's post! Thanks!!!
June 26, 2008 at 12:44 AM
Small fingers have a hard time with regular crayons, so this is a totally fantastic idea for preschoolers. Kids like to colour with the SIDES of crayons, if you let them. It gets more paper covered. I bet it is cool the way the different shades of colour make a marble effect too. I am going to email this to every art teacher I know! (and boy, I know many!)
June 27, 2008 at 6:05 AM
This is fun to do mixing the colors too so you end up with a big multi colored crayon that changes the color as you write.
June 27, 2008 at 1:21 PM
I absolutely love this idea! Heck, it would make a great study break for a dorm :)
June 27, 2008 at 8:04 PM
I have done this in the oven but never thought of doing it in the crockpot! (I even have a muffin tin reserved especially for this, even though it has been a few years since I have done it) I am going to do it this week!
October 28, 2008 at 7:50 AM
Awesome. I can't tell you how many crayon pieces we have around. I'm doing it this weekend.
November 6, 2008 at 1:04 PM
i'm so bummed! i just did a major crayon purge. i had a whole bag the kids and i could've melted down...oh well, i'm sure we'll make more crayon nubs :) thanks for the great idea!
November 12, 2008 at 9:55 AM
I have done this project in the oven - I used a silicone muffin pan, and the crayons popped right out. I had to use Dawn Power Dissolver to get the wax off of the pan - wear some gloves when you scrub it off! Stephanie, have you tried using silicone pans inside of your crocks? I suppose they would be ok since they can go in the oven....
November 16, 2008 at 10:13 AM
I'm going to raid the church broken crayons & do this for them!
January 31, 2009 at 12:04 PM
I just made this with my kids they loved it
February 22, 2010 at 12:50 PM
Tonight I used some silicone molds from the Japanese-equivalent dollar store for making crayons - two are shaped liked pigs, so cute! and four little 1" square ones. They will be designated non-food only from now on. I cannot believe they only took two hours on low in my 6 qt smart pot!
April 22, 2011 at 4:48 AM
You could also use those molds for water bottle ice cubes if you wanted a taller, skinnier crayon. I haven't seen them in stores, but I haven't been looking. I have seen them online though.
July 2, 2012 at 2:28 PM