What to do with stray crayons or ones that are too short to use? Melt them to make crayon "cookies"! This is a fab and easy way to recycle old crayons, save money and conserve energy and natural resources that would be needed to make new art materials -- giving crayons a second life keeps them out of the landfill!
You will need:
- Crayons
- Silicone candy or muffin pan
- Utility knife
Directions:
Pay special attention to the colors you choose to melt together. Colors that are related will blend nicely, but those opposite each other turn brown. It's best to use all blues and greens, blues and violets, reds and oranges, reds and violets, yellows and oranges, or yellows and greens
Snap the crayon into small pieces and place them into one of the openings in the silicone pan. Continue filling the section with similar colors until it's nearly full.
The safest way we know to melt the crayons is to use natural heat, so you can let the power of the sun work for you, stick them in the trunk of your car, or place in the oven on low temp and keep a very close eye on them. When the tops of the crayon cookies are smooth and flat, they're done. Allow the cookies to cool and become solid. Working on newspaper, carefully pop out the shapes, and you're all set to color with your new crayons!
