broken crayons

**Helen Dempster** · 11-07-2010, 07:34 PM

anyone got any good ideas as to what I can do with broken crayons (other than just throw them away, that is)? They're too small to use for colouring now, having been broken so many times, but before throwing them out, I was wondering if there's anything I could do with them (love recycling, me!) LOL!

**Ripeberry** · 11-07-2010, 07:35 PM

I wonder as they are wax, could they be melted down to make one big crayon?

**angiemog** · 11-07-2010, 07:42 PM

I've seen somewhere that you can put them in a muffin tin, an assortment of different colours and then put in the oven, not sure for how long, you end up with rainbow crayons I'm saving mine up. x

**PixiePetal** · 11-07-2010, 08:49 PM

Originally Posted by angiemog

I've seen somewhere that you can put them in a muffin tin, an assortment of different colours and then put in the oven, not sure for how long, you end up with rainbow crayons I'm saving mine up. x

It's in the current issue of Creative Steps magazine

**Chell** · 11-07-2010, 09:28 PM

Originally Posted by angiemog

I've seen somewhere that you can put them in a muffin tin, an assortment of different colours and then put in the oven, not sure for how long, you end up with rainbow crayons I'm saving mine up. x

Fab idea, my older children would love that. I'm always throwing away crayons as they seem to get loads in restaurants, party bags, etc.

**Millenium** · 12-07-2010, 06:39 AM

As someone has mentioned, they can be melted down. My mother used to do it using an "eclair tin", and we would divide up the colours as best we could. She must have put them in the oven on a very low heat (I didn't really take a lot of interest in oven temperature at that age!!!), and we would end up with these monster crayons that were flat on one side - brilliant!

**huggableshelly** · 12-07-2010, 06:48 AM

i had one of those crayola crayon makers ... utter waste of money as the crayons were remade but too thin or had hollow sections so snapped right away.

i never thought to melt in the over and remake, brill idea!

**miffy** · 12-07-2010, 06:56 AM

Step-by-step instructions here from our own jumpingjen

http://little-blossoms-childminding....w-crayons.html

Miffy xx

**Chell** · 12-07-2010, 07:00 AM

Originally Posted by miffy

Step-by-step instructions here from our own jumpingjen

http://little-blossoms-childminding....w-crayons.html

Miffy xx

Excellent, thank you, I am going to add that to my summer holiday activity list.

**Chatterbox Childcare** · 12-07-2010, 07:02 AM

I grate mine over a peace of paper and then fold it in half and iron it. The crayon melts and leaves a pattern.

I keep a grater just for this.

**angeldelight** · 12-07-2010, 07:04 AM

Get a few sheets of coarse sandpaper and have your children draw pictures, shapes and swirls onto them, using your broken crayon pieces and/or sprinkle crayon shavings onto the sandpaper.

Then, put the sandpaper creations on a foil lined baking sheet and bake them in the oven on a low heat. Keep a close eye on the project throughout the baking process.

When the wax is fully melted and has filled in the tiny crevices of the sandpaper, carefully remove the art work and let it dry for about 30 minutes or so.

They look lovely when finished

Angel xx

**Helen Dempster** · 12-07-2010, 07:17 AM

Originally Posted by angeldelight

Get a few sheets of coarse sandpaper and have your children draw pictures, shapes and swirls onto them, using your broken crayon pieces and/or sprinkle crayon shavings onto the sandpaper.

Then, put the sandpaper creations on a foil lined baking sheet and bake them in the oven on a low heat. Keep a close eye on the project throughout the baking process.

When the wax is fully melted and has filled in the tiny crevices of the sandpaper, carefully remove the art work and let it dry for about 30 minutes or so.

They look lovely when finished

Angel xx

Love this idea

**sillysausage** · 12-07-2010, 12:17 PM

We used them once to make some quite effective pictures on canvas.

I bought some cheap canvases from au naturel (before it went bust). We used penil sharpeners to get lots of wax shavings then we sprinkled them over the canvas. I then covered the canvas with some greaseproof paper and ironed it on a low setting. The resultant pictures looked fab! Shame I haven't got a photo of one to upload. The LOs gave them to parents as christmas gifts one year.
One of my older mindees arranged her wax shavings in a rainbow and drew various flowers and butterflies with a black marker pen then added shavings within the outlines. Some of wax spread outside of the lines but it still looked really nice and her mum was amazed.

**Chell** · 02-08-2010, 01:04 PM

Originally Posted by miffy

Step-by-step instructions here from our own jumpingjen

http://little-blossoms-childminding....w-crayons.html

Miffy xx

We've just taken these out of the oven, we've filled them a bit too much and I've spilt wax all over the tray, oven glove, floor, etc.

Kids were safe, don't worry!

I'm wondering if they would work if you used fairy cake cases as a liner. The mixture would be less likely to over flow when it melts. Just wonder if they'd come off the paper ok though. It would give them nice crinkly edges. I might try later.

My 7yr old son is really exctied waiting to see what colours are underneath when we remove them from the tin. My five year old mindee (girl) lost interest quite quickly and encouraged my daughter to leave the activity. I thought they would relaly enjoy it. I'm sure they will be pleased with the end result though.