Reusing Broken Crayons

If you have children who enjoy coloring, you are bound to find yourself with a mountain of broken crayon bits. Some crayons splinter right at the beginning, so you end up with practically brand new crayons that no one wants to use! The solution? Melt them down and make brand new coloring items!

Although there are actually crayon molds on the market, it is far better to turn your broken crayons into something a bit sturdier this time around. There are plenty of options available to you. Mini muffin tins make nice round coloring cakes that are easy to grasp and very hard to break. Chocolate molds yield more fanciful shaped crayons in nearly any design you can imagine, from dragons to hearts. Soap molds can also be used. The sturdiest crayons will be thicker, solid shapes that don't have smaller bits sticking out. For example, star shapes are fun and pretty, but unless they are pretty thick, the points tend to break off. A square, heart, circle or thick block is a better way to go.

Since you probably won't have enough crayons broken all at once, it's a good idea to buy some cheap plastic tubs and just toss broken crayons into these when you find them. Keep everything color coordinated to eliminate the need for sorting later on. You don't have to stick to specific shades, but the crayons will probably be used more often if you make them in various shades of blue or green, for example, instead of mixing all the colors together, which can get muddy.

When you have enough broken bits, set your molds out on the counter and prepare your crayons. This means peeling off any paper and breaking longer pieces into small chunks, about half an inch long. Fill the molds, but be careful not to have any pieces sticking out, since these will tend to melt and run into your other crayon molds.

Once the molds are all filled, set the mold tray on top of a baking tray that has waxed paper lining it. This protects against any wax drips and means you won't be trying to get hardened wax out of your oven before baking cookies! Your oven should be preheated to 300º. Stick the crayon molds into the oven and let the crayons melt. You will need to keep a close eye on them. Depending on the wax content, this process can take anywhere from 5-15 minutes. Once the crayons have melted just enough to start spreading, turn the oven off and take them out. Let the crayons harden overnight, out of reach of children and pop them out the next day. You should have some very pretty, variegated crayon shapes that won't snap as easily as the originals!

This is a great activity to include your children in. They can help sort the colors or make their own color combos in the molds.