The kids were coloring at the table Saturday when I realized just how much of a mess our crayon collection had become. Most of these originated when Addison was much younger and have lived through her torture and now her brother’s. Birthday party favors, restaurants and our original box of Crayolas have all contributed to the pile. Addison has graduated to a new, pretty box of 64 colors and this mess has got to go.
Enter: The Muffin Tin
I’ve had these foil liners sitting in the pantry for longer than I can even keep up with. They were a steal during Lowe’s Triples several years ago and I just don’t bake muffins that much. I pulled out the paper dividers – we’ll find something else to do with those.
Some of our crayons were already paperless and broken. These chunks were really too big, but these crayons were too fat to break by hand. Using a knife hadn’t occurred to me yet.
Peeling the paper is the perfect job for the kidlets. But, even she got bored with it. A knife makes much faster work for mom.
The carnage. I picked out the colored pencils (not sure why I didn’t do that before) and scraped the whole mess into the trash can.
We used broken bits to fill all of our cups. We started with 6 but ended up with 9. We had more crayon bits than I imagined.
A 350 degree oven makes quick work of crayons. It didn’t take but a few minutes for them to melt.
As they cool, the tops look kind of icky. I was a little worried at this point.
But, when we turned them out, all was well! Perfect little Reese’s Cup looking crayons, swirling with colors!
The girl is the one who pointed out they looked like Reese’s Cups. Then the boy tried to eat one.
Once everyone was on the right page, the coloring commenced. Well, the girl colored. The boy built a tower.
See.
Pretty, swirly colors!
This was a fun little project that didn’t take too long and it was free! It’s definitely a wonderful alternative to pitching those tiny crayon pieces!
I love this craft project, it really looks like fun and great way to recycle the small crayons that are left
I forgot to add, I am your new follower
have a lovely week!!!
Hi! Just stumbled this post for Stumble Tuesday! Please stop by http://aboutamom.com to return stumble & say hi!
It’s beautiful… I love it
Stumbled here, my post is http://www.lifeascending.info/how-to-center-an-image-using-html/
OH MY GOODNESS! I love this too!
Wow, nice idea, I would’ve never thought of that.
> Then the boy tried to eat one.
LOL at that.
I’ve stumbled upon Your post, thanks in advance for stumbling mine: The top 5 laptops for girls.
Love this! We’ve acquired quite a collection too over the last 5 years and none of them were bought by us! My daughter has a tendency to break crayons so this is something we should definitely do in the future. Thanks for sharing. I’ve stumbled this.
How funny – I just posted about this on Tuesday. We made Lego shaped crayons for goody bags for my kids Lego b-day party coming up in a few weeks.
I remember doing this with my mom when I was little! Stumbled you back!
Wendy
Around My Family Table
Wow, this is a fun craft project – and really useful
Thanks for sharing.
(From the Stumble Tumble Tuesday Blog Hop)
How much fun!
I stumbled you. My post is http://booksyourkidswilllove.blogspot.com/2011/07/have-you-given-your-child-banned-book.html
Love it! What fun. I’ve wanted to reuse our crayons, but didn’t realize it could be that simple. Thanks.
Stumbled you (late!). My post was: http://www.mapleleafmommy.com/2011/07/five-oddball-things-you-can-sell-online.html
what a great idea! I never would have thought of that.
Stopping by to return the stumble!