How to Make CrockPot Crayons
What's the best thing to do with old, broken crayons? Recycle them! This is a great rainy (or overly hot) day project, that is both fun and useful.
The Ingredients.
--old crayons--muffin tin or candy mold.
I was ecstatic to find a 6-hole, throw-away muffin tin at the grocery store. I really want to try and make cupcakes.
In order for it to fit in my 6qt oval Smart-Pot, I needed to trim the edge a little with some scissors, but afterward I did that, it fit nicely into the crockpot.
My friends have candy molds that fit in their crock perfectly, and next time I'm at the craft store I'm going to look for them. --kid helpers.The Directions.
Sort the crayons into color families, and peel the wrappers off. It helps to soak the crayons in some warm water before peeling.Break the crayons into small pieces, and load into the candy mold or muffin tin. It's best to mound the crayons up a bit; they will melt and shrink down.
Put the tin or mold into the crock, cover, and turn on. We cooked our crayons on high for 1.5 hours.
Once the crayons have melted completely, your crayons are done. Let the hot wax sit in the crock and begin to harden before trying to remove the pan--- you don't want hot crayon wax spilled, or to get burnt.
Refrigerate the pan for 30 minutes, or until the crayons have hardened completely and pull away from the edges. Pop out and enjoy!
The Verdict.
This was a fun project to do. We were surprised at how easy some crayons peeled, and how others needed to soak for quite a while to loosen the wrapper.
We also noticed that crayola crayons sunk, while the generic crayons floated.
The same thing happened in the melting process---the generic wax floated to the top, and the deep crayola color sunk to the bottom---which meant that in order to get a nice color, the kids need to use the bottom of the crayon.
I will make these again. They were easy and the kids had a ball.
More Fun Stuff in The CrockPot:
playdoughcandlessoapshrinky dinksSalt Dough OrnamentsCrockPot as an Air FreshenerUse your Slow Cooker as a Foot bath!
What a great idea, Steph. I remember melting old crayons with my mom when I was a tyke. Good memories.
ReplyDeleteYou are one crazy gal! What a great idea! Did any spill over into the crockpot? Easy to get off?
ReplyDeleteMy mom has done this in the oven. Great way to recycle old broken crayons - and so fun for kids to use!
ReplyDeleteThat is so creative and great! I don't have kids but remember the huge basket on top of the fridge full of broken crayons.
ReplyDeleteOh my god! I never would have thought of this. Thanks for the tip!
ReplyDeleteSheesh woman! You think of everything. We did this in the oven once, and didn't use liners in the muffin tin. I don't have that muffin tin anymore...
ReplyDeletefun idea!
ReplyDeleteso you just left them to harden in the muffin shape?
okay, if yes...what can you do with them after that?
great idea! I'm going to make lots of these to use at my preschool
ReplyDeleteWow - you are so full of good ideas. I haven't seen anything on your site I wouldn't like to try! Thanks for all the great tips!!!
ReplyDeleteHmm....what do you do with a huge muffin-shaped crayon? Maybe you can take them and grate them with your cheese shredder (is that even a word?!) and sprinkle it between two sheets of wax paper. Iron it flat. Then, cut into various shapes, maybe like snowflakes, and hang them in a window as a sun catcher! Otherwise...humm?
ReplyDeletecreative idea cathy, one could do that without melting them together though, right? I want to do that with my guy! :D
ReplyDeletepeace~
But you never said: how did they taste??
ReplyDeleteI love this post and your blog! I just added you to my blog roll.
ReplyDeleteHow FUN!!
ReplyDeleteI must say, this one blew me away! Who-wudda-thought!
ReplyDeleteI'm going out and getting me a foil muffin tin today, just amazing!
Johnr, That's funny!!
Thanks for the great idea. We tried this yesterday and it was so fun! My boys had fun helping to peel the wrappers and break up the crayons. We had a big bucket of old broken crayons so this was perfect for recycling them. I was worried about spilling so I lined the crock pot with foil and that worked great.
ReplyDeleteThis is the best idea ever!!! Fantastic. I can't wait to have enough broken crayons to try this out. I'm super stoked on this idea. Way to go! :) Mentioned it in today's post! Thanks!!!
ReplyDeleteSmall fingers have a hard time with regular crayons, so this is a totally fantastic idea for preschoolers. Kids like to colour with the SIDES of crayons, if you let them. It gets more paper covered. I bet it is cool the way the different shades of colour make a marble effect too. I am going to email this to every art teacher I know! (and boy, I know many!)
ReplyDeleteThis is fun to do mixing the colors too so you end up with a big multi colored crayon that changes the color as you write.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this idea! Heck, it would make a great study break for a dorm :)
ReplyDeleteI have done this in the oven but never thought of doing it in the crockpot! (I even have a muffin tin reserved especially for this, even though it has been a few years since I have done it) I am going to do it this week!
ReplyDeleteAwesome. I can't tell you how many crayon pieces we have around. I'm doing it this weekend.
ReplyDeletei'm so bummed! i just did a major crayon purge. i had a whole bag the kids and i could've melted down...oh well, i'm sure we'll make more crayon nubs :) thanks for the great idea!
ReplyDeleteI have done this project in the oven - I used a silicone muffin pan, and the crayons popped right out. I had to use Dawn Power Dissolver to get the wax off of the pan - wear some gloves when you scrub it off! Stephanie, have you tried using silicone pans inside of your crocks? I suppose they would be ok since they can go in the oven....
ReplyDeleteI'm going to raid the church broken crayons & do this for them!
ReplyDeleteI just made this with my kids they loved it
ReplyDeleteTonight I used some silicone molds from the Japanese-equivalent dollar store for making crayons - two are shaped liked pigs, so cute! and four little 1" square ones. They will be designated non-food only from now on. I cannot believe they only took two hours on low in my 6 qt smart pot!
ReplyDeleteYou could also use those molds for water bottle ice cubes if you wanted a taller, skinnier crayon. I haven't seen them in stores, but I haven't been looking. I have seen them online though.
ReplyDeleteWe did this today with a silicone mold that made rectangles about 3" by .75" by .5". They turned out great, but even with Crayola crayons only, the uncolored wax rose to the top. Maybe my "high" setting is too hot and I should try low next time! I only had them in there for an hour, too! Thanks for the idea of using the crock pot instead of the oven, though!
ReplyDeleteSarah, thank you for taking the time to report back -- I'm so glad you gave these a try!
ReplyDelete