Ever wonder what to do with all those old, broken crayon bits? Is your toddler struggling to grasp the special “Toddler Crayons” or the standard-sized ones? One great way to solve both problems, and make some awesome Christmas-themed gifts, is to make homemade crayons! My mom and mother-in-law both gave me bags of old crayons to use for this craft. I only used Crayola brand crayons, as I’ve read that cheep crayons often don’t work since the wax-pigment ratio is off and the finished product ends up too waxy. I got some basic instructions from several Pinterest posts, but then did my own thing since none of the sites I visited really seemed to work for me.
What I Did:
I took a large bunch of old Crayola crayons, soaked them in very warm water, then peeled off the wrappers (don’t skip soaking them, it makes basically melts the wrappers right off)! Then I sorted them into similar colors and put them into holiday-themed silicone muffin tins (I got mine from the $1 isle at Target). Before you put them in the oven, put the muffin tins on a large cookie sheet to make it easier to take them out of the oven.
Then, I put them in the oven (set to 250 degrees), for about 1/2 hour. Basically you want to melt them without liquefying them, which would make all the colors run. As a side note, I had to put more crayon bits into each muffin tin spot, because as they melted, a lot of space became available and I wanted the finished product to be thick.
When they are done, take them out of the oven and set them to aside to cool. When they are cool, pop them out the muffin tins and enjoy! As a side note, I used several silicone muffin tins and one silicone ice-cube tray. All of the muffin tins cleaned up perfectly, but the ice-cube tray was ruined.
What a great idea! They turned out so professional looking!
By: Denise M. Moore on January 1, 2013
at 7:09 am
Thank you! I was surprised myself!
By: The Coastal Living Mom on January 1, 2013
at 1:28 pm