With three kids, I have numerous broken crayons. I can’t bring myself to throw them away so I keep them in a box inside my arts and crafts closet.
The day has finally come for them to emerge from the closet. To be reborn! 😂
To make new crayons from old ones:
1. Cut them up into small pieces using scissors.
2. Sort them by color. If there aren’t enough of one color, you can mix them in with darker ones. They will take on the color of the darker crayons.
3. Simmer a few inches of water in a saucepan. Put a glass or metal bowl on top (make sure that it fits snugly on top of the saucepan). I used a glass bowl. Make sure the bowl that you use can withstand heating.
4. Put the cut-up crayons in the bowl and wait for it to melt. You can stir it with a spatula. I know it looks like a colorful mess. That’s because I used one bowl for all the colors. I just scraped each melted color off with a spatula. Less bowls to scrub and wash.
It will melt in about 1-2 minutes. Discard any unmelted crayon pieces if you want a smooth finish. But you can still mix them in like what I did with some of the colors.
5. Pour the melted crayons into molds. I used silicon cupcake liners that I put into a cupcake baking tray (so they can be easily moved).
5. Let it cool and harden.
I waited 24 hours to remove them from the mold. It was very easy to unmold them. My three year old, Teo, did it by all by himself.
Here are the recycled crayons.
Teo enjoyed using them and stacking them up like blocks.
Domestic Goddess Tonni 