I love using recycled craft materials whenever possible. If you are looking for an easy kid’s craft, try recycling crayons into brand new ones.  All you need to do is:

1.  Gather up all those broken, short pieces of crayon, remove the paper, separate the pieces into similar color groups, and place them in a small, disposable baking cup tins (the size of a cupcake).

2. Place the crayon-filled baking cups in the oven at 200 degrees for about 10 minutes until the wax is melted.

3. Remove from the oven and pour the melted crayons into soap, candle, or candy molds.  Most molds can handle melted wax, but if you are unsure, check your mold to see what temperature it will withstand.  If you don’t have any molds, you can use a muffin pan and just create large circular-shaped crayons.  But the molds are what make this project really fun!  Kids love using crayons that look like hearts or SpongeBob SquarePants or flowers or whatever other mold shapes you can find!  NOTE: Decide for yourself if you feel comfortable putting melted crayons into molds you would use with food (like candy molds) in the future. 

4. Let the crayons cool until they are hard.  If you want to speed up the process, you can put them in the freezer.

This project is a great way to teach kids about recycling and reusing what they already have in news ways.  I also think this project is a great handmade gift to make for a child or that kids can make for each other (for a birthday gift, for example), and not just on Earth Day. 

Even though I don’t have any crayons that need recycling, I am going to make these customized crayons for someone – even if I have to buy some new crayons to do it!  They are so cute and fun.  And don’t forget to keep those little baking cup tins for the next time you want to do this project – it’s one more way to recycle!

Happy Crafting,

AJ

PS – There are lots of ways to craft and recycle at the same time.  Click here for more ideas.