Making New From The Old

Actual Date: Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Look at all those broken crayons.  It's like a broken crayon junk yard.  

They've been cleaning out and updating our supplies at the church and I told them to save me all the broken crayons so I could make new ones for the babies.  I used to do that a lot in my first life.  You know the one where I was a teacher and was able to carry on adult conversations with people on a daily basis...

Ok I'm back.  I got lost there for a minute.

It's super easy to do and here's how.

All you need is: Broken crayons 

                 Muffin tin

                  Sharp knife

        Oven

                                            An empty shelf in the freezer

Peel off all the wrappers.

It helps to have a couple of willing kids around to help with this part.  My kids LOVE to do this.  What kid doesn't love to rip the wrappers off crayons and break them?

For some reason taking the wrappers off seemed a little harder this time around.  I don't know if it was the brand or what but I did find a little trick.  I took a sharp serrated knife and cut through the wrapper all the way down.

*Watch your fingers!* I had a few close calls.

After cutting it peeled right off,

and left behind the crayon.  Naked and vulnerable.

As I cut them I sorted them by color into the muffin pan.

Isn't it a glorious sight?

Then you place it in the oven to melt it down.  I placed mine on a baking sheet because the silicone pan is too flexible to hold onto when it's full of hot melted wax.

I melted them at 325* for about 5-7 minutes.  Just keep an eye on them.  When you see that they've practically turned into a liquid they're ready. 

From there, take it straight to the freezer and pop it in.  This helps firm it back up quicker and they pop out easier. 

Once they've cooled completely you can pop them out.  This is the part where I find the silicone pan works better than a tin one.  You can just push the silicone from the bottom to pop it out.  It takes a little more brute strength with the tin one. 

Just to let you know I use this pan for only making crayons.  I'm sure you could use one of your regular ones but I'm weird about things like that.  It's a problem I have.

One of many.

The finished product.

Oh and if you wanna get really crafty you can make double sided crayons.  Simply fill the bottom of the tin with one color and then pile another color on top before you melt it down.  They will mix a little and make cool swirls, but for the most part they stay put.  

These little babies are great for little babies.  When kids are little their fine motor skills aren't fully developed.  That makes it hard for them to grasp and hang onto skinny little crayons.  These muffin crayons are the perfect size and shape for those chubby little fingers to grab hold of.

Plus it's nice to be able to do something with those annoying broken crayon stubs before they over take your house.  

Oh and I should mention, the peeling of the wrappers process can get kinda messy.  It's helpful to have a OCD child around who can't stand disorder.  

He was all over that mess.  It was heaven for him.