Repurposing Crayons

As Earth Day approaches (Wed April 22nd) we have been talking more at home about Reducing, Reusing (Repurposing is another word we like), and Recycling.


I am trying to get the kids to think ...

Reduce the amount of the Earth's resources that we use.
Reuse Don't just bin it, could someone else make use of it?
Recycle Can the materials be made into something new?

Today's we were talking about some of things that are old and broken that we could use again in another form. Crayons! Who does not have bits of crayons, old snapped pieces etc. We had more than I had expected. In the kitchen we had a bunch of "cheap" crayons that are very thin and we don't use too often as the kids prefer the chunkier variety.

So here was what we did ....

Preheat oven at 250.

Peel all the paper away.break them into smaller pieces.

put some patty cake papers into muffin trays (here is a hint POST my doing it, put some foil down the bottom or spray some oil as some how it does seep through the papers a little so it makes the pan a bit messy afterwards, a little foil will help a lot!).

We used normal size papers and some mini ones which i thought would be a better size for Sami.

Place the broken bits into the papers.

We tended to keep the darker colours together and in some we used the same colours.

Place them in the oven until the crayons have melted. In my case I took the minis out about three minutes before the bigger ones. it does not take long so don't go too far just do some cleaning up ;-)

Remove from oven. They may look a little icky but don't fret wait, they will look better once you have turned them. wait to cool.

Once completely cool remove the paper liners. I then run my fingers across the top to get rid of any thin bits that are created from the wrinkle in the paper liners. They crack right off very easily.(see how much better they look underneath! CLICK on the image so see the beautiful colours)

You are ready to go. Find some willing artists, paper and off you go!

Oh yes and for the younger ones please do explain that they are NOT cakes ... ummm Sami! (one bite and he was put off LOL)

Laith and Lulu really understood this one and were very surprised that all those old broken ones they would have thrown in the bin made wonderful new crayons. YAY once small step :-)

Thanks for stopping by ....