Crafty Crayons

Are you wondering what to do with all the small pieces of crayons accumulating in your children’s drawing station? These are a wonderful way to reuse and recycle, make a great homemade gift and are wonderful hands on science experiment.

Gather what you need:

–    Crayon pieces

–    A mould to form the crayons in. We used a silicon ice-cube fish mould from IKEA (you can also muffin tray but think about the little hands that will be holding these crayons)

–    Vegetable oil  spray

Get Set and Make:

1. Preheat the oven to about 120’C and coat the crayon mould with a light spray of oil.
2. Encourage little hands to help peel any paper wrapping off the crayons.
3. Pack as the mould with crayon pieces as tightly as you can so that the shape will fill. We did this by colour but be as experimental as you like!
4. Place the mould in the oven. If you are using a silicon mould place this on a more stable tray.
5. Keep a close eye on it as the crayons melt quickly, 6-8 minutes will do it. You may like to top up the moulds if needed. You could even use a contrasting colour for rainbow crayons.
6. Once the crayons are done let them cool completely before turning out.
7. Have fun and be creative!

We think these fish would make a great gift and look very cute packaged in a net (reuse an orange net) or a tin or box (like sardines). But this batch was made for Jasper and we are enjoying watching his creativity.

Introducing Science: If your child is school aged this might be an opportunity to discuss science topics like the physical change that happens to the crayon as it is heated. What other products can you think of that might change from solid to liquid when heated (I’m thinking chocolate, let’s have a go at making that!) and can you think of something that changes from liquid to solid (hello ice-cream!).