Crayon Recycling

Crayon Recyling

When I taught K-6 art, we colored almost everyday and by the time the end of the year rolled around, I thought I was living in a crayon junk yard. Little did I know that my co-worker was about to teach me a lesson in crayon recycling.

My co-worker came in my art room and noticed the coffee cans filled with crayon bits, she asked me what I was doing with the crayon pieces and I explained that I was hoping for a revelation. She looked at me in shock and asked if I knew how to melt crayons together to make new crayons. I looked back at her in shock because she just gave me my crayon recycling revelation.

She told me about two different options she uses to recycle crayons and I did try both ideas and I like both equally. The crayon recycling ideas are as follows:

Broken crayon pieces with the paper removed
Empty, clean soup cans
Hot water(almost boiling) in a pot
Small plastic film canisters
Soap mold, *this is not mandatory
Old muffin pan

Idea 1
A child can sort the crayon pieces by color and then place the pieces in the soup cans, one color per can. The parent can set the soup can in a pot of very hot water until the crayons have melted. The parent should then pour one color of wax, about 1/4 inch into each film canister. When the wax gets hard, add a second color on top of the first color. The idea is to get a layered effect to look like a rainbow, it is very important to let each color harden before adding another color. Another option is pouring one color of wax into a soap mold to make a shaped crayon.

Idea 2
Preheat oven to 400* and grease an old muffin pan. Have a child remove the paper off all the crayon pieces and place the pieces in the muffin either the same color together or mixing the crayon colors to make a rainbow. The muffin pans should be placed in the oven until melted and then removed and cooled until hardened.

This project is great for kids because it is a fun way to make crayons and also a super way to learn about recycling.

Crayon Recycling

Credit: George Hernandez

Copyright: Wikimedia Commons