Recycling old crayons

We have been collecting broken crayons for about a year and saving them in a gallon ziplock bag.  This summer while the children were at work with me, I pulled out the bag of sad broken crayons and got started creation new HAPPY crayons.

I used fancy tart mini pans that have been sitting in their box unopened for the last 15 years.  Apparently, I was never going to get around to making fancy fruit tarts with them.  What better use than a fun project with my two children.

First tray ready for the oven!

 

 

How to make fun crayons:

Supplies: Broken crayons (paper removed)

Muffin pans or tart pans

Cookie sheet 

Aluminum foil

Oven or toaster oven

Instructions:

Cover your cookie sheet with aluminum foil, just in case your crayons run over the edge and onto your cookie sheet.

Preheat oven/toaster oven to 225 degrees

Lay out your tart pans and start adding the crayons to each pan.  You may need to break the crayons even smaller so they don't lay over the edges.  Pile the crayons pretty full in each pan,  they will melt and fill in all the empty space between the broken crayons.

Pop the tray in the oven and watch, it took our crayons about 10 minutes to melt.  That was the best part, the kids loved watching them melt down and the colors run together.

After they look melted on top and you can no longer see any lumps.  Remove the tray from the oven (BE CAREFUL, the is very hot, you are working with melted wax)  No kid help for this part!!!

Let them cool completely, I think we waited about two hours.  They will pop out of the tart pans very easily when they are completely cool. 

Fun tip:  The kids made ones that matched different holidays, like (Orange,black, yellow) for Halloween and (Red, green and white) for Christmas and even (Pink, white and red) for Valentine's Day.

Let them cool completely!!!