3 Fun Ways to Reuse and Recycle Old Crayons

3 Fun Ways to Reuse and Recycle Old Crayons

This past week winter came to the Great Lakes area with frigid gusto and temps, causing my now cooped-up kids to start developing a bad case of cabin fever. After finding my work flow greatly
interrupted by bored kiddos, I decided we needed a project to keep little hands busy. Of course, the same old things did not spark their interest anymore, and with the current weather—a trip out to gather
supplies did not seem very delightful. Scavenging through our craft drawer I found we had an abundance of crayons—which after being in the hands of my toddler—no longer looked like they did when purchased. So after a little research, we decided to try a few fun things using our old crayon pieces. We quickly found there are a lot of great ideas out there. Here are our favorites. We hope this gives you some creative ideas on things you can try with your children or grandchildren.

Melting and Remolding: My toddler especially liked this activity and the large “new” crayons it made. It was also a hit with my second grader who enjoyed mixing the colors and learning more about the color spectrum. With the large variety of silicone molds available for candy making, your options for themes and designs are seemingly endless.
There are many ways to melt wax. You can place the broken crayon pieces in an oven-safe mold at 350*for about 10 minutes. Or simply melt in a microwave-safe dish or on the stove top in a double-boiler and pour the melted wax into the molds. Allow to cool before removing your creations from the molds. Hot wax can burn you if you are careless. (This also produces great preschool-age party favors and candy/allergen free Valentines. Just mold them into hearts and pair with a heart shape notebook. )

Unique and Original Art: Both of my kids loved the gluing on portion, as well as melting the crayons with the hair dryer. After all, what fun is it when mama gets to always do all the melting! It also provided a lesson on wind and the melting temperatures of different items. As you can see we did this one two ways: 1) with non-glued smaller pieces and shavings and 2) with first gluing the larger pieces in place.
Crayons can be glued on with glue sticks, school glue or hot glue. If using hot glue it works best to leave the wrappers on the crayons, otherwise the heat from the glue melts the crayons prematurely. School glue is more kid-friendly, but may make it a two-step project because of the time required for the glue to dry before melting. Once crayons are in place, use a hair dryer to melt and spatter the wax. My kids liked the effect of the high setting best. I would recommend covering your work area with old ads/newspaper to keep you from cleaning splattered wax off places you don’t want it!

Mason Jar Crayon Candle: This one was my favorite. There is nothing more special than sitting down to supper with a candle “made with love” gracing the table. My kids were proud and happy to see their hard work and labor being appreciated and enjoyed. It also kept the kids busy peeling crayons for the longest, and can be enjoyed for weeks to come. For this one, we simply placed one or two broken, wrapper free crayons in a mason jar with about a 1/3 cup of bee’s wax. Placed it in the oven at 350* for about ten minutes then added a purchased candlewick. We slowly added more crayons and wax to the jar until the wax reached the height we wanted.  After the first layer, melt wax in a separate container and allow each layer to cool before adding the next color. You can use bee, paraffin, or soy wax as your main wax depending on your personal preference. We used a pencil on top the jar to help hold the wick in place. This also doubles as great gift idea for Mom, Grandma or that special aunt. Given the over-abundance of scented candles these days, this unscented allergy-free candle makes a unique gift. Offering all the color options typically only found in scented candles and opportunity for individual expression as well. We did find however that crayon quality did affect the candle. Higher-grade crayons are made from a purer wax and were therefore cleaner burning.

Happy Crafting, the Homesteading Hen