Crayon Nibbles
June 13, 2008
When I was a kid, I always kept my crayons nice and neat. I kept them in the exact order as they first appeared in the box. I colored at an angle so the point was always nice. Once I got down far enough, it was time to rip some paper, it was time for a new box. As you can tell, I was just a bit picky about my crayons. Our girls are the complete opposite. They take all of the crayons out of the box, strip them down so they are naked and then break them into pieces. I try to make sure it doesn’t drive me too crazy. So in the end, we have a bunch of pieces of crayons and not much to do with them. I picked up a crayon maker at a yard sale last summer and when I went to use it, the mold part was missing. So it was difficult to make crayons with no mold. Last night, my sister suggested I melt them into new crayons using the oven and a muffin tin. What a great idea! I went searching for some more instructions on it and found great information and photos from Crafty Daisies.
Crayon Nibbles
Gather up:
- Crayons ~ You can gather up broken pieces you already have or go purchase boxes and break them up into pieces
- Mini muffin pan (one that you don’t mind getting crayon on)
Directions:
You’ll want to preheat your oven to 265 degrees F. Peel off all the paper from the crayons (for the new ones, I found it much quicker to remove the paper in one smooth motion if I carefully ran the Exacto knife down the center of the paper and peeled the paper back), and break them into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces. Arrange two to three like colors in each slot, then bake for 6-8 minutes (don’t over bake - you want them just melted so you can’t distinguish the crayon shape anymore). Let them congeal a little on the counter, then place them in the freezer until they are firm (approx. 30 minutes). They should then pop right out.
This is great for little hands that aren’t steady enough to hold thin crayons. They can wrap their whole hands around them and go to town without breaking them. They make great back to school and birthday gifts for other little artists in your life. It’s also a handy way to recycle crayons!
Need a cute way to store your Crayons? Try a cookie jar.
Posted in Crafts, Fun For Kids
June 13th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Hi Meredith! I feel like I know you and should call you Mere because Melissa talks about you and your girls so much. She sent me the link to your blog today and I LOVE it! It’s seriously a dream come true because I’m always looking for fun things to do with my kiddos. Thanks!!
June 16th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
I SOOO need to do this w/my crayons from school. Thanks for the directions, Mer!
June 25th, 2008 at 11:48 am
I did this today and just wanted to say thanks!! I found different baking molds (hearts and bunnies) and I plan on using these as baggie gifts for different holidays for Abbies school..now to be creative and come up with a cute label so they know they are crayons!! I’m going to look for more pan molds for each holiday…what a GREAT idea and thanks for sharing it!!
January 6th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Hi there,
I found this post through Lovely Design’s blog and love the idea of using a muffin tin. I remember when I baby sat in high school, I made some for the kids I watched by melting end bits in a Pyrex in the microwave and then pouring them into cookie cutters (which were coated with wax paper so they would not have to remain crayon-making cookie cutters after I was done). I mixed the colors up, though, to let them switch up as they used ‘em.
Thanks so much for the idea! I would have never thought of the oven and muffin tins (then again, I rarely use the oven for anything else, so it’s no wonder).
May 17th, 2009 at 10:48 am
OHH my gosh whata great idean iam a teacher for kindergardens and they alwasy break ther crayons i am gona do this THANK YOU !!!!