As far as we're concerned, the more things we can recycle the better. So, when we heard that our local drugstore (Elephant Pharmacy) will be recycling old and broken crayons throughout the month of September we were both amused and inspired.
What a cool way to teach a youngster about recycling: That broken Periwinkle crayon isn't going in the trash, we're walking it down the street and handing it off to people who will eventually use it to make more crayons.
Even if you aren't lucky enough to have a local drugstore facilitating the crayon recycling, you (and your child's school) can still do it. Just box up your crayon bits, your neighbor's crayons bits, and your friends' crayon bits, and send them to Crazy Crayons. They accept all colors, wrappers and all, and turn old, broken, rejected crayons into fresh coloring tools.
Oh, and if you want to buy some recycled crayons for your little ones, you can do that too.
Or, you could make your own "Crayon Cupcakes." Here are some helpful instructions.
image via cafemama; Flickr.com
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Recipe: Steamed Chocolate Pudding Cakes
Comments (3)
We recycle our own.
Materials:
Soup cans, empty, clean, labels removed - one for each color.
Large pot, like a dutch oven.
Water.
Skewers, for stirring - one for each color.
Oven mitts.
Towel.
Candy molds.
Separate broken crayons into basic color groups and remove the labels. Put each color into a soup can. Put all of the cans into the large pot. Pour water into the space around the cans, like a water bath for baked custard. Heat the pan gently on the stove, stirring each can of crayons until melted. **Using oven mitts**, pick up a can, wipe the water off the bottom with a towel, and pour the melted wax into little candy molds. Let cool at room temperature and pop your new crayons out of the molds!
Variations:
Layered - let each color layer cool for a few minutes so that the colors don't mix.
Swirled - pour two or three colors in and gently swirl with a skewer.
Sparkly - shake some glitter into the molds before pouring the wax in.
I forgot to add the story behind this method! My mom was the art teacher for my school for several years, and near the end of each school year, she would gather broken and old crayons from the students, transform them to these shaped crayons, and give them back to the students before summer break! We had great fun making brown teddy bears, green sparkly Christmas trees, red hearts, swirled circles, and many other great shapes!
Aimi, that is such a great story! I would have loved it if my art teacher did that!