For the Love of Crayons!

If you were a crayon what color would you be?

Last year I was working at an after school program with first and second graders. At the end of the year I wanted to give my students something special, so I made them crayons. You can do this as a gift or with your own kids or kids you babysit. It can be a fun rainy day activity or just something to do with all your old crayons.

I got the idea from Pinterest and started collecting crayons earlier in the year. I used mostly broken or old crayons in order to recycle them, but any crayons will do. The brighter the better! Dark colors seemed to wash out the other colors and just became dark blobs.

1. I bought silicone baking molds to melt the crayons in.  The silicone makes the crayons easy to pop out and are easier to clean.

2. Make sure all crayons are peeled! (I had students help me with this task, they thought it was fun)

3. Break or chop up crayons into smaller pieces. Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees.

4. Fill molds with crayons. They will melt and expand so no need to fill them all the way to the top. Half way or three quarters full will do.

5. Place the baking mold on a baking sheet and put in the oven.

The crayons will take about 10-15 minutes to melt. Once they are melted you can take them out of the oven. They will need to cool and harden for the next 10 minutes. Once they have cooled down you will be able to pop them out of the molds. Have fun!

-K