The holiday season is coming. Instead of going out and buying everyone something they don’t really need, try making gifts. If you have kids, chances are you have boxes of broken, half used crayons. Why not take them and melt them down into new crayons? I loved getting brand new perfect crayons as a kid. It is a lot of fun creating new crayons too. If you don’t have old crayons laying around, try looking at thrift stores, often you can find a big bag of crayons for a few dollars.
DIY Crayons
Time: 30 minutes
Supplies: old or broken crayons, muffin tin, oven, freezer.
Difficulty: easy
1. Peel the paper wrappers off all the crayons and break them into little 1-3 inch pieces.
2. In a muffin tin, separate ten or so crayon pieces into each cup, so the bottom of the cup is covered and about half way full. You can mix different colors in one cup (which can make a swirly crayon) , or do each cup in a different color. If you want to involve the kids in making crayons, this is the part they can help with. Let them mix different colors together, or sort the colors into the correct color cups.
3. Put them into the oven on the lowest setting you have. Some ovens have a warm or 150 degree setting my oven only went down to 200 degrees, which was fine. Leave in the oven until the crayons melt. It takes a few minutes depending on the color and how deep the pan is/how may crayon pieces are in each cup. Watch them closely to make sure they don’t burn.
4. Carefully pull them out of the oven. It’s best to keep children out of the kitchen while doing this, since the wax is very hot and will cause burns if accidentally spilled. Let them cool in the pan for about 5 minutes.
5. When they have cooled for 5 minutes, put the whole muffin pan in the freezer for an additional five minutes.
6. Remove the pan from the freezer and the crayons will pop out of the muffin tin, much the way ice cubes pop out of an ice cube tray.
7. They’re done!
Perfect for younger kids to hold in their hands and color with, and a great easy and personal gift for the holidays. You can wrap them up in a little bag or stack them in a mason jar for an easy and cute gift that any child would love.
