How to Make Recycled Crayons
If you spend much time around kids who use crayons, you've probably noticed that a lot of crayon often has to be thrown away due to breakage or heavy use. This simple project uses those old crayon ends to make new crayons, which can be used to color with or as fun gifts. Although this project definitely requires an adult, kids can participate in preparing the crayons and choosing the colors for the finished product.
Things You'll Need
- Bits of crayons
- Sauce pan
- One or more clean tin cans
- Cupcake papers
- Pot holder
Instructions
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1
Collect as many unusable crayon bits as you can find, separate them by color and remove any paper pieces from them.
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2
Bring an inch or so of water to boil in the saucepan. Place the can in the middle of the water. Add crayon bits to the can, where they will slowly melt. The water around the can keeps the wax from becoming dangerously hot, so keep an eye on the pan and add more water if needed.
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3
Using a hot mitt, carefully pick up the can and pour the hot wax into a cupcake liner.
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4
Repeat, using different colors and combinations. You can do this in a variety of different ways, for example, if you melt one color at a time instead of mixing them together, you can pour a thin layer of each into the wrapper as you go, which will eventually create a crayon with a rainbow of layers. You can also place some crayon bits into the wrapper, then stick them together by pouring liquid wax over everything.
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5
Allow the crayons to cool completely. Putting it in the refrigerator can speed this process up somewhat.
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6
Remove the paper and experiment with your new crayons.
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Tips & Warnings
If you want to make solid colored crayons, be careful because the colors can easily bleed into one another, especially very dark color. Using a different can for each range of colors can help with this problem. Depending on the size of your pan, you could even melt several colors at the same time, then create different effects by swirling them together in the wrappers.
The wax can get very hot during this project, even if you use plenty of water. If kids are participating, make sure they are careful not to touch it in any way.
