If you are wondering what to do with old crayons, here is a fun DIY idea on how to reuse old crayons that you can do with your kids.
We all know the feeling of opening up a brand new box of fresh crayons. And then somehow the kids manage to break half of them and no one ones to use them. But don’t toss the broken crayons just yet. Here is a really fun DIY idea on how to reuse and create new crayons out of the old and broken ones.
For this activity, you will need a silicone mold (we used a letter-shaped mold) and an oven to melt the crayons in. There are so many cute molds to choose from, like heart-shaped molds. You could also use an ice cube tray. If you choose a letter shape mold, you can reuse the new letter crayons for other learning activities and sensory bins as well.
This post is all about how to reuse old crayons.
How to reuse old crayons
What you need:
- Old Crayons
- Silicone Mold
Start by heating your oven to 300 degrees.
In order to melt the crayons, all paper needs to be removed first. Have your little ones help with taking the paper off the crayons.
This was actually kind of therapeutic for me lol. I could have peeled off the paper for another hour or so.
Now is its time to fill up the molds with all the crayon pieces. If some of the crayons are a bit too big to fit inside the mold, just break them into whatever size needed to fit. I let my kids pick out whatever colors they wanted to add next to each other. Don’t worry if the crayons don’t lay flat or have small gaps in between. Once they melt, it all smoothes out.
We’ve added glitter to our molds to make it a bit more fun. Feel free to leave it out.
How to melt crayons in the oven
If you’re using silicone molds like I did, place them on a regular baking sheet before they go in the oven. Since the crayons will be hot when coming out of the oven, it’s better to take them out on a firm tray or baking sheet.
Set your timer to twenty minutes and take the crayons out of the oven once all of them have fully melted. Some might take a little longer to melt, depending on the size.
Once you take them out of the oven, let them cool down for at least 20-30 minutes. Then pop them out of the molds and get crafting.
Wasn’t this such a fun idea to turn old crayons into new crayons!? Upcycling crayons is great if your kids have a bunch of old crayons they no longer need, and a fun idea to turn something old into something new and exciting.
This post was all about how to reuse old crayons.
