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Craft Corner: Make Your Own Crayons from Recycled Bits and Pieces

🌎 Cool Craft for Earth Day (or Any Day!)

By Carmen Kaethler, Macaroni Kid East Winnipeg April 17, 2018

This week I finally got around to a project I have wanted to do for a few months now -- making new crayons using our old broken ones and silicone molds.

I enlisted my 3-year-old to help sort, but she quickly got distracted when she rediscovered the princess crayons we have. Apparently they are the "best thing she's seen in her WHOLE LIFE!" Not sure where she got that expression, but it sure is adorable.



After we sorted out the broken pieces and took off the wrappers, I had her help me sort them by general colors. Don't worry about them all being the same shade because it will look neat later when they are speckled with different shades.



Next I chopped up the crayons into small pieces to fit nicely into the silicone molds that I had chosen. A large knife is definitely easier for this process. Take note that a lot of crayon bits will make their way into your cutting board, so don't use your favorite one! I also rinsed the board after each color so that they didn't get too mixed up.



Fill the molds and transfer to a warm oven. The wax melts easily, so you don't need to put the temperature too high. Place the molds on a baking sheet to make it easier to pull them out of the oven. And don't put them on the top rack! I found that putting them on the middle rack gave the best results.



I let my first batch melt to complete liquid and I found that the colored wax separated a bit when it cooled. The crayons still work great, but if you pull them out just before they are completely melted into liquid, you get more of the defined shades when they cool.



Wait for the new crayons to harden and cool before you remove them from the molds. I stuck ours in the fridge because I was impatient for the first batch! Be very careful removing them, as ones that have a lot of corners or are narrow can break, like my S and W did.



I also found that molds with little tips broke easily; solid shapes were easier to remove. My squares, which I tried a rainbow of bits in each, would have been really nice, but I put it on the top rack and the heat destroyed the mold.



I hope you have as much fun as we did!