I LOVE doing craft projects with my kids. We get to spend quality time together while being creative! Doing projects with your kids also opens so many doors for learning opportunities! Conversation happens so naturally when two people are working towards a common goal, and it is no different with children!

I have ALWAYS wanted to make recycled crayons and was amazed at how simple and FUN it was! Both of my kids really enjoyed this project, and had so much fun coloring with their brand new crayons.  I hope you will try out this idea with your own kids. It is a great way to re-use old crayons and the end result is really special.

1. First, gather up all of your crayons. Start searching for the bits and pieces….the broken off nubs…the short sticks…

2. Gather up a wide variety of colors. Peel off the crayon papers. Break up any larger pieces as the crayons will melt more quickly when the pieces are smaller. Start to fill up your muffin tin or cups with the broken, peeled crayon pieces. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, I decided to use my silicone heart cupcake wrappers. They worked really well! However, you can use any muffin tin for this project.

3. You can choose to mix the crayon colors, creating swirly crayons, or you can keep like colors together for more uniform crayons. I left the crayon placement entirely up to my kids. They had a lot of fun choosing where to put each of the crayons. You can use this opportunity to talk about color blending, color mixing, etc. Place all of the filled cups on a baking sheet.

4. Put your muffin tin in a 250 degree oven. Make sure to turn your oven light on so you and your kids can watch the magic start to happen!

5. The crayon wax is flammable, so keep a close eye on your muffin cups! Your crayons will need to melt for about 10 minutes. Here is what they look like after about 5 minutes.

6. Here is what your cups will look like after about 10 minutes, after all of the wax has melted.

7. Take your muffin cups out of the oven, and pop the tray into your freezer. I left mine for about 15-20 minutes or so. When your new crayons have re-hardened, they will pop right out of the tins. The silicone cups made it SO easy to remove the crayons. This is what your finished product will look like! How cute are these?!

8. My kids had SOO much fun coloring with these! They work almost like rainbow crayons, coloring in more than one color simultaneously! They are cute, VERY easy to make, and such a great way to keep broken crayons out of the trash! I am anxious to try out some of my other molds and tins next! I am thinking race car crayons will be next! Have fun, be creative, and take some time to craft and create with your kids! Happy Valentines Day!