Homemade Gift - Toddler Crayons

This week the girls and I have been creating a variety of homemade gifts.  One of these projects was to recycle broken crayon pieces into new multicolored crayons for their little brother.  It was really easy (and not as messy as I thought it would be).  Here's how we did it..

L and E (4 years old) really enjoyed sorting the crayons by color into a muffin pan (that I lined with tin foil).  We decided to mix red, pink, and white together to see what happens.  We discussed how the crayons were solid and the girls correctly predicted that they would turn to liquid when they melt.  Then it was into the oven (200 degrees for 10 minutes).

I didn't take many photos of the process of getting the melted crayons into the silicone ice cube tray since I had to supervise and make sure no one got burned..

Basically we used a spoon to put some melted crayons into the heart-shaped molds.  Once the first layer began to harden, we added a different color on top (so the finished crayons had a different color on each side).  I didn't realize how quickly the crayons harden again, so some of the crayons ended up a bit lumpy.  If we do this activity again, I would melt one color at a time and have the girls pour it into the molds instead of the slow process of scooping it in using spoons.  After everything cooled, the girls popped the crayons out of the molds.  Of course they were eager to test out their little brother's new present..

Our recycled chunky crayons were quite a success - the girls have asked to draw with them almost daily! (hopefully there's something left for H's present..).     Since there are still broken crayons to be found all over the house, we will absolutely be doing this project again..