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Cozy Classroom

Turning Old Crayons New Again…One Melt at a Time

Recycling Old Crayons!

Do you have leftover crayons laying around your house? If so, this is a GREAT recycling craft idea that takes all of 30 minutes total! Having raised my own kiddos and being a kindergarten and pre-k teacher, I seriously CANNOT believe this is my first time attempting this! In my kindergarten classroom I always had a GINORMOUS container of crayon pieces stashed in a large jar and I have vivid memories of my teacher friend saying, ” What are you DOING?” as I dumped one container of crayons after another into the trashcan toward the end of the year just hurrying to clean and pack up for the summer ahead. “You can recycle them!” she would yell at me. 

“Recycle them? Who has TIME for that??” I would argue. Well Jules, you would be proud of me now! I gave it a try this past weekend and was totally shocked by…

  1. How awesome my new crayons turned out.
  2. How EASY it was!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies Needed for Recycling Crayons

  • recycled crayons in bulk
  • cookie cups
  • water
  • bowl to soak the crayons in 

 

 

Secret to Removing Crayon Wrapping

Ok, so I have a secret. Maybe some of you were already in on this little secret that I JUST discovered, but I’ll share anyhow. One of my biggest hang ups with recycling crayons has always been the thought of peeling one GINORMOUS jug of crayons! I mean, talk about time consuming. 

When I finally committed to giving this a try, I decided I was going to have my pre-k kiddos help me peel! GREAT fine motor practice was my first thought. Well…yes on the great fine motor practice, but I realized quickly that at the rate they were working it would take me months just to get the crayons PEELED. UGH. 

Next…

I decided I would bring them home to have my own boys help me! After all I have a 13 and 14 year old that are always looking for something to do during their “no screen time”. Um…that was fail number two. I should have known better than to think they would have the patience to help with this task. BOYS.

Magical Discovery

My magical discovery I cannot take credit for. My husband was the one who gets credit for this one. After painfully watching our boys try to peel one crayon after another with ZERO success, he decided to do a little research and came up with the simple solution of warm water in a bowl! THAT”S IT! Warm water in a large bowl and dump all of the crayons into the bowl. Let the crayons sit for maybe 20 minutes and watch the paper peel away. Now, some of the wrapping literally falls off, while others need to be gently rubbed away from the crayon. Super simple. 

 

 

 

Now, I would suggest placing your crayons into a large bowl that is filled with warm water. We actually started off by adding warm water to the zip lock bag that our crayons were in. Either way works, but when you are ready to peel the crayons in the water it’s easier to peel from a bowl rather than sticking your hands into a plastic bag. 

 

Prepping for the Oven

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy! Just snap your crayons (if they are not already broken) into small enough pieces that they will fit into your cupcake holders. You can mix colors OR stick with one color per cup depending on what kind of crayon you would like to make. I mixed most of mine and LOVE the way they turned out! Make sure to set your oven at 275 and bake for 10-20 minutes. I originally set my timer for 10 minutes but found that they did not fully melt in that amount of time. I had to bake mine for a bit longer (20 minutes). When you remove them from the oven, they should be fully liquid. 

 

 

Finished Product, DIY Recycled Crayons

A Bit of helpful advice I wish someone had told me! Be sure to let melted crayons cool until warm to touch and not much longer before you peel from the wrapper. If you wait too long the wrapper will be tough to peel away from the crayon!

Happy Crafting my Friends! Hope you think twice before dumping that container of used crayons in your kids craft room! 

 

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