Recycled Chunky Crayons
Sep 3rd, 2007 by Marie
I know you have some crayons that are short, stubby, paper gone or in shreds. Perfect crayons don’t last long. I had a Kindergarten student who would throw a fit when the point off her crayon was dull! My little Lucy likes to bite off the ends, yum! Or she likes to use them to draw on the toys and walls!
I have the perfect solution for all of those left over and unwanted stubby crayons. Here’s my version of how to make a new Recycled Chunky Crayon!
Get out your old crayons. Take off the paper (if it is still on) and break them up into smaller pieces (kids love to help with this.)
Spray your muffin tin (below is a mini muffin tin) with vegetable spray and pour some crayons into each spot. The more or less you put depends on what size you want for each chunky crayon. You can also group the crayons into colors that are fun together, red and blue for purple, pink tones for girls, or blue tones for boys.
Place the muffin tin full of crayons into a preheated oven of 275 degrees F. I used both mini muffin tins and large muffin tins. Watch them carefully, they will melt fast. Bake them for about 7-8 minutes. When they looked melted enough, carefully and slowly remove them from the oven. You can stir them with a toothpick for a swirly look, or leave them as is. Let them cool completely (can be placed in the freezer to speed up process once the tin is not so hot.)
Once cooled, the crayons can be popped out of the muffin tin, tap the back to help this process. Then get the paper out and your ready to color. I like the pink and brown one, it looks like a pig. On the left, we tried to make a red, white, and blue one.
Here are are few different variations to the Chunky Crayon by Kiddin Around:
Variation #1: instead of using a muffin tin, use metal cookie cutters in whatever shapes you like, on a flat cookie sheet that’s been lined with tin foil.
Variation #2: Put old crayon chunks into small paper cups, and place them in the microwave for about 4 - 6 minutes on ‘high.’ Pour the melted wax into candy molds, and then place them in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Once the wax has hardened, your new crayons will pop out of the molds.
Have fun melting, or if you want to buy them already done instead, visit this Etsy Store with great chunky crayons.
I love this idea! We have to periodically do this at my house because, with three kids, we end up with A LOT of crayons - LOL! I used frog and ladybug molds for mine, but I really like your chunky style - definitely easy for little hands :-)
I’m friends with Meriel, and I’ve been blog-stalking you for a while. I LOVE YOUR IDEAS!! I’m really excited for my baby to get a little older so we can start doing some of the fun things you do. I refer people to your site all of the time! Thanks for the fun ideas, (and the Pork Satay recipe was amazing!!!)
This idea is great! Thanks for sharing. My little guy would love these! Please post anymore great ideas.
I want to do this. thanks for sharing. I love to see what you come up with next.
We’ve done this before but ours didn’t turn out as nice as yours. The colors are great!
I love this idea!
What an awesome idea; Mack would love this! I love Lu Lu’s art work - too funny!
Fab! I’m going to try it right now!
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Too much fun! Gonna do it!!
my friends and i made this it was really fun we gave it to her kindergarden class they LOVED them.
We found that the silicone ice trays work really well for this purpose because the bending form makes it easy to pop them out. Ikea sells them in a triangle, cylinder and puzzle piece shape. We also did ours in layers. Check out the pictures: http://www.chicaandjo.com/2008/04/16/recycle-old-broken-crayons-into-fun-new-shapes/
I am only 11 but I LOVE doing crafts with my little brothers and this is perfect!!