I love to color and draw, but my love is nowhere near as intense as my children's. Javi can sit at the table and draw characters and worlds for hours. Bella woke up sometime last week with an undying devotion to her 24-pack of Crayolas and now begs to "cudderin" at all times.
For instance, earlier this week, I said to her, "Baybay, you wanna help me make some cookies?" And that little freakazoid answered, "No tanks. I'm cudderin." Who does that?
However, this fury of coloring has left us with many broken and worn down crayons that end up discarded in the bottom of the crayon bowl (a box couldn't contain the glory for long). I considered tossing them, but I am a re-user at heart and couldn't stick something in a landfill that could have a second use.
Instead of throwing them in the trash, I broke up the larger nubs and added everything to our mini-muffin tins. I then popped the tins in the oven at 350 degrees and let the crayons "cook" until they are just melted. Then I stuck them in the freezer to set. After about 30 minutes, the new crayon blobs (as Javi affectionately calls them) will pop right out of the tins. I let them come back to room temperature and then stick them back in the crayon bowl. Bella has begun preferring these because she can hold them with her whole hand.
When I was younger, we used up old crayons in a more creative way. We'd grate the crayons into shavings and then scatter them onto a sheet of wax paper. Once the pattern was how we wanted it, an adult would lay another sheet of wax paper on top and then iron the whole thing until the shavings melted. I was always so amazed at the final product. I think I should try this with my bitty ones soon!
This is what works for me. What works for you?
11.11.09
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How neat! Never did this when I was little. Going to have to try it with kids when they get a little older. Thanks for sharing!
Oh I wish I'd read this a week ago! My girls are little enough to still LOVE to peel and break their crayons. We've gone through many sets because of it. But I've never melted them together like this - and I am going to so they can keep coloring. They love it too - and so do I frankly, and this is a fun way to recycle!!!
cute idea! Thanks for sharing
Your crayon blobs sound like a great idea. We just used to wear them down to the nubs, then somehow, they always seemed to find their way to the bottom of some disgusting cigar box of crumbs and junk... (I bet I still have some vintage crayons around here somewhere.)
awesome! that's one of the best WFMW tips I've heard... never would have thought of that one on my own, but such a good idea!
thanks for sharing!
Funny, I just did a post about this too! I do want to try the thing with grated crayons sometime. And I've also seen that you can melt the crayons first and then pour them into candy molds so you can make all kinds of shapes. Definitely want to try that soon too!
Ooh, Hannah, melting them first has potential. You could make layers that way, too. I'll be trying it!
LOVE this idea! TFS!