Howto Recycle Your Crayons
Kids love art: FACT. And with little people at home, chances are you’ve got loads of rogue crayon bits EVERYWHERE. We’ve got good news for those eager little hands! We scoured the web ISO a recipe for turning the casualty of broken crayons into something positive and fun – for you and older tots alike!
What you’ll need:
Crayons – all sorts of crayons!
A knife (for the adults)
Cupcake pan or other fun mold (you can find these at Ikea)
Creative enthusiasm!
Step 1: Give those broken crayons a new lease of life by cutting them up into small pieces. We recommend using a cutting board you don’t mind messing up, because the crayon crumbs do get embedded in the cutting board no matter how delicately it’s done.
Step 2: While chopping up the crayons, preheat your oven to 170 degrees.
Step 3: Have a muffin or cupcake pan on hand. Again, we suggest using an older tin that you don’t mind recycling. Or a better idea, dedicate the cutting board and pan to re-making crayons! You can even get creative by choosing fun-shaped molds for these as the end result:
Step 4: The real fun begins with grouping colours! Place the oranges with the yellows, yellows with the greens, and greens with the blues – whatever you like, just be creative! It’s also a great opportunity to teach the kids colour theory.
Step 5: After giving each colour combination a space in the muffin pan, place it in the oven and allow them the crayon bits to completely melt down. It’d take about an hour, so be prepared to keep the kids entertained.
Step 6: After melting completely, let your new crayons cool down. Ample space in your freezer will speed up this cooling process (though you probably shouldn’t leave them in there for too long).
Step 7: After cooling, turn the pan over and pat on the bottoms of the cups. They should come out, and boy, do they look good enough to eat!
Images: MultiplyDelicious.com, TheNourishingGourmet.com, Instructables.com, MarthaStewart.com, and LilBlueBoo.com.