Make New Crayons, But Keep the Old...

Ok, I was eating Girl Scout cookies I found in the freezer, so please excuse the title. (We used to sing Make New Friends, But Keep the Old.)

My youngest is very, very hard on crayons. He likes to peel the wrappers off, pushes hard, and frequently breaks them. Lately, I've been collecting the broken or really well used crayons and saving them in a Ziploc bag. Plus, they just got new ones for Easter, so it's a good time to clean the old ones out. Today, we're going to make new crayons out of the old ones!

To make crayons, you will need:

• Old, broken or small crayons, paper removed. (May need to cut into smaller pieces.)
• Old muffin pan. If you don't have an old muffin pan, you will need to line your pan with foil wrappers. (Use the foil wrappers. I learned the hard way that the crayons can leak through the paper wrappers.)
• Foil wrappers (optional).

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
2. Line muffin pan with wrappers.
3. Place small pieces of crayons inside wrappers until about 1/2 inch to 1 inch high. 
4. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until they start to melt and slightly combine. You don't want them to melt all the way, or it will turn into one color. You may want to open a window while they melt, because it can sometimes smell.
5. Take out of oven and allow to cool in the pan (about 30-60 minutes).

Other Options: You could also use candy making molds or disposable foil baking pans to create different shapes and sizes.

Melted crayons

Solid crayons, in wrapper

Top of crayons, out of wrappers