It is important for us to buy things that last. There is no sense in having to replace the same thing year after year, it is not good for the environment or the pocket book! The items that we purchase that do not last tend are made to stretch in all ways possible, like Damian’s crayons.
If you have a child you know that crayons go fast and if you have a toddler you know they break pieces often. We save all those little bits and ends and when we have enough we make more crayons.
About once a month we take all the pieces of crayon, separate them by color (this is a great way to teach sorting and colors to children!) and and chop them up. Damian helps with that too, while at two he obviously can’t use the knife to chop, but he can sure take great zest in obliterating the crayons if I put a color in a ziplock and give him a rolling pin.
After the crayons have been chopped, we pour each color into a section of a mini muffin tin. This is our mold, we have used a regular muffin tin before but I find the mini tin makes them the perfect size for Damian’s hands. I set our mini muffin tin on a larger baking sheet because it is easier to move later and stick it in a 200F oven.
Now just wait, and watch! We have a window in our oven so this is easy for us. As soon as the crayons have completely melted pull them out of them oven and set then the pan on a wire rack to completely cool. When you first take them out of the oven you can drop pieces of different colors or shapes in them if you want. We had a yellow star shaped crayon left from ones we received awhile ago, I dropped it in the hot white wax.
Our mini muffin pan takes about two hours to cool. To get them out we have to put the pan in the freezer for 15 minutes (don’t do this before they are cooled, they will crack) this shrinks them a little so we can just turn the pan over and tap it. The crayons fall right out. Then you can start coloring!
What kind of things to you make stretch in your home?
