Recycled Crayons by Make and Takes

Get out your old crayons. Take off the paper. Spray your muffin tin (below is a mini muffin tin) with vegetable spray and pour some crayons into each spot. The more or less you put depends on what size you want for each chunky crayon. You can also group the crayons into colors that are fun together, red and blue for purple, pink tones or blue tones.Place the muffin tin full of crayons into a preheated oven of 275 degrees F. I used both mini muffin tins and large muffin tins. Watch them carefully, they will melt fast. Bake them for about 7-8 minutes. When they looked melted enough, carefully and slowly remove them from the oven. You can stir them with a toothpick for a swirly look, or leave them as is. Let them cool completely (can be placed in the freezer to speed up process once the tin is not so hot.) Once cooled, the crayons can be popped out of the muffin tin, tap the back to help this process. Then get the paper out and your ready to color. I like the pink and brown one, it looks like a pig. On the left, we tried to make a red, white, and blue one.

• Variation #1: instead of using a muffin tin, use metal cookie cutters in whatever shapes you like, on a flat cookie sheet that’s been lined with tin foil.
• Variation #2: Put old crayon chunks into small paper cups, and place them in the microwave for about 4 – 6 minutes on ‘high.’ Pour the melted wax into candy molds, and then place them in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Once the wax has hardened, your new crayons will pop out of the molds.