How to Make Recycled Crayons in Heart Shapes
Every parent, teacher or daycare worker will agree that broken and worn-down crayons are frequent when children are discovering their inner artist. However, you do not need to toss these crayons in the trash once they are used. Melt the crayons into heart shapes to give these wax colors a new life, and children an alternative to the boring stick versions. The thick design of the hearts also makes it more difficult to break the crayons.
Things You'll Need
- 12-compartment tin pan, heart-shaped OR
- 12 cookie cutters, metal and heart shapes
- 4 to 10 tin pie pans
- 3 cups crayons, broken or well-worn
- 1 lb. dried beans
Instructions
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1
Peel off the paper wrappings from 3 cups of recycled crayons. Divide the crayon pieces according to color, if desired.
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2
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees F.
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3
Arrange a clean tin pan that has 12 heart-shaped compartments on your work surface -- the pan can be a miniature size pan or regular size. Alternatively, position 12 heart-shaped metal cookie cutters on 2 to 5 tin pie pans, depending on the size of the cookie cutters.
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4
Break any pieces of the crayons that are larger than the width of the heart-shaped metal forms you are using. Add the crayons to each of the heart shapes so there are two layers of crayons to each compartment. Place only crayons of a single color to each heart if you want to make solid colored hearts. Mix the colors of the pieces to create swirled crayon hearts, such as using green, red and gold for a holiday design.
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5
Stack an empty tin pie pan on top of the cookie cutter pans, if using. Pour 1 cup of dried beans to the top pan. Spread the beans carefully in an even layer to be used as weight so the crayons are less likely to leak out from under the cookie cutters when melting.
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6
Place the crayon-filled trays in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes or until the crayons have all melted and are bubbling.
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7
Remove the trays, carefully, and allow the crayons to cool completely. Place the trays in the freezer, if desired, to help cool the crayons faster. Flip the pans to remove the crayon hearts, or slide the cookie cutters off of the hearts, if using.
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Tips & Warnings
Use old pans and cookie cutters as you will not be able to cook with them after melting the crayons in them.
Let the crayon hearts cool completely before you remove them from the trays or they will not come out.
Do not shake the melted crayons in the trays if using multiple colors for each heart or the hues could blend into a murky brown; think of using a color chart when designing the hearts.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Photos.com/Photos.com/Getty Images
