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.

Posted in Kids Crafts | 22 Comments

22 Responses to “Recycled Chunky Crayons”

on 03 Sep 2007 at 5:46 am1 Melissa Garrett

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 :-)
on 03 Sep 2007 at 1:04 pm2 Anne Lee

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!!!)
on 03 Sep 2007 at 5:42 pm3 Brittany

This idea is great! Thanks for sharing. My little guy would love these! Please post anymore great ideas.
on 03 Sep 2007 at 10:31 pm4 megan

I want to do this. thanks for sharing. I love to see what you come up with next.
on 04 Sep 2007 at 12:43 am5 kailani

We’ve done this before but ours didn’t turn out as nice as yours. The colors are great!
on 04 Sep 2007 at 7:45 pm6 Laurie

I love this idea!
on 04 Sep 2007 at 10:25 pm7 Lindsay

What an awesome idea; Mack would love this! I love Lu Lu’s art work - too funny!
on 12 Oct 2007 at 2:44 pm8 Georgia

Fab! I’m going to try it right now!
on 14 Oct 2007 at 8:30 pm9 Crayon resurrection at Puking Pastilles

[...] know about you, but we go through crayons and markers like we do toilet paper. I ran across this post about making new crayons out of old broken ones. Go check out Joanna’s shell shaped ones [...]
on 09 Nov 2007 at 1:23 pm10 Elves and crayons « Sugarbug

[...] old crayons that were broken and partially melted from being left out in the sun. I had run across this post last week, and decide to try it out. The boys (Julian had a friend over) got a bit bored after [...]
on 25 Feb 2008 at 7:46 pm11 Shannon

Too much fun! Gonna do it!!
on 05 Apr 2008 at 6:59 am12 lopes

my friends and i made this it was really fun we gave it to her kindergarden class they LOVED them.
on 18 Apr 2008 at 8:39 pm13 Chica & Jo

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/
on 09 May 2008 at 5:04 pm14 Abbey

I am only 11 but I LOVE doing crafts with my little brothers and this is perfect!!
on 18 May 2008 at 9:21 am15 Lacie

Thanks for the inspiration!!!!
http://my2gs.blogspot.com/2008/05/recycled-chunky-crayons.html
on 24 May 2008 at 10:38 am16 Paulina

i absolutely love this idea! i tried it and it turned out great. and my daughter loves to mix her favorite colors together. she made an orange and pink, green and pink and she wants to even hang them in her room– lol!– well anyways thank you!
on 11 Jun 2008 at 9:03 am17 Cindy

I did this with heart shaped muffin pans last year for my grandkids. They loved them! I forget where my daughter got the idea, but it was too cute!
on 12 Jun 2008 at 7:58 pm18 KAT

My daughter (almost 4) and I made these funky chunky crayons. We used the fluted cylicone cupcake molds. No spray needed. Coloring with these crayons was so much fun because we could draw 4 lines in 4 different colors, all at the same time, due to the fluted sides. Thanks for posting!
on 16 Jun 2008 at 8:13 am19 Asthma Mom » Kids, Their Stuff, and Sustainability

[...] Save up broken crayons until you’ve got a bowl full, unwrap the nubs, break them into smaller pieces, and melt them down in muffin cups to make crazy multicolored disc crayons. Here’s a photo essay on the process. [...]
on 19 Jun 2008 at 2:52 pm20 Monica

I love this idea so much. I’m going to try it when I have some free time with my kids. My daughter loves to peal the paper off of crayons, so this will be the perfect thing to do with the old ones.

Thanks!!!!
on 20 Aug 2008 at 10:28 am21 Skip

Whoa, this is so cool! Y’know, I used to have a Crayola Crayon Maker a couple years ago, whick does the same thing… Only it cost like 30 bucks. Wish I had done this instead!
on 30 Sep 2008 at 7:20 pm22 Erica

Thanks for this idea of recycling old crayons. I did this project with my 3 year old and loved it. I think I was as curious about the outcome as he was! I discovered that these big, chunky, multi-colored crayons are excellent for leaf rubbings. The rubbings look like works of art!