How to Recycle Your Old Crayons and Make New

This past weekend, the kids and I had an hour of down time on a Saturday afternoon. I quickly scanned the web for a “quick and easy toddler craft” since we didn’t have a ton of time. Pictures of repurposed crayons showed up and my kids immediately said, “We want to do that one!” So off we went!

Side note—please ignore (or admire, if you want!) my kids’ painted faces in these photos! We had just come from a lunch that featured a face painter, and as any parent knows, there’s no way you’re getting your child to let you remove face paint just after it has just been painted! So a tiger and ice princess helped me with this project.

I’ve seen lots of people doing these “melted down” crayons using their old and broken crayons. But in my mind, I knew that the kids would have a really hard time peeling off the paper around the crayons and would probably give up and start whining, “It’s too hard! Mommy can you do it?” after about five minutes. So I added my own twist (pun intended) which made it much easier for the kids to do this project by themselves for a couple of reasons.

Instead of using traditional crayons, I decided to use a package of Twist-Up Crayons we hadn’t yet opened. Why are these so different, you may ask? Well, first off, there is no paper to peel off, which was great for the kids (and that means it’s great for you too, of course).

Secondly, the kids didn’t even have to twist the crayons all the way out like I had imagined they would. They just gave each crayon about two or three twists and then were able to pull the whole long crayon right out the plastic holder! And lastly, these particular crayons are slightly smaller in circumference than a typical crayon which makes it incredibly easy for the kiddos’ small hands to break them into little pieces.

You will need a bowl to put all the broken crayon pieces into after removing them from their plastic holders.

You will also need some flexible silicone molds to put your broken crayon pieces into. Since it’s spring, we used a mold with bunnies, bears and butterflies. There are a ton of different molds to choose from online, like Legos, Star Wars, etc. Lots of fun options!

Next it’s time to let the kids put the crayon pieces in the mold of their choice. You don’t even need to spray your mold with anything prior to adding them!

My oldest daughter hand-picked the colors she wanted in her crayon, while my younger one just grabbed the pieces by the handful. Either way works, and both produced great results!

Bake your crayons at 230 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until all the pieces have liquefied. Remove from your oven and cool.

Then you can flip over your mold and your “new” crayons will pop right out! These would also make adorable party favors that you could coordinate with your next birthday party.

Happy coloring!