Recycling Crayons for Kids

When I was young growing up, my family was poor. In an effort to keep my siblings and I still active and busy, my Mother had to learn how to extend our resources. One way she did this was by recycling old broken crayons. She realized money was tight and there was no sense in throwing away crayons that could still be used. She made new molded crayons from the old broken ones and created recycled paper from the crayon wrappers, old news papers, and constructions paper. She quickly realized this was an activity that young children could help with, and then enjoy the fruits of their labors with recycled crayons and paper when they were done. I have great childhood memories of doing this activity and then drawing with my newly shaped crayons and cool recycled paper. I hope you enjoy this Instructables and give it a go on your own. Kids will love it!

For the Crayons:

• Old broken crayons with wrappers
• Muffin tin or silicone molds
• Heating source (an oven or grill)
• Aluminum drip pan

For the Paper:

• Crayon wrappers
• Old used paper
• News paper
• Construction paper
• Egg Cartons
• Water
• Blender (get a cheap one, not the one you use for cooking!)
• Shallow tray or container (to hold paper water)
• Rolling pin
• Sponge
• Soft bath towels, linens, or cotton cloth
• Heavy object (brick or piece of wood)
• Mould and Deckle (you can buy one or you can DIY it)

Mould and Deckle DIY:

• Two cheap picture frames any size you want (get them from the dollar store)
• Weather stripping
• Window screening
• Duct tape
• Scissors
• Staple gun

You can use any crayons, left over or new.

Take your crayons and remove the paper around them.

Set the paper aside for later use.

Break the crayons into 0.5 to 1 inch pieces.

Place the broken pieces into the silicone molds or muffin tin. You can organize the colors however you like. Let the kids pick. One cool thing about making these crayons, is you can mix colors.

You can place your crayons in the regular kitchen oven or on the grill outside. One reason I like to do it outside, is to prevent the smoke detector from going off. Melting crayons create a lot of smoke.

If you choose to melt them in the oven do it on the lowest heat and do not open the oven until the crayons are completely cooled. It will take about 10-20 minutes in the oven on the lowest setting.

f you melt them on the grill do it on low with the lid closed. It will only take about 5-10 minutes on the grill.

Do not over cook your crayons or the color will separate from the wax.

Let the crayons cool in their molds for 30 minutes to an hour.

If you used a muffin tin you can use a tooth pick to help you remove the crayons, or you can pop them out by turning the tin over. Since they are made of wax they slip right out.

If you used a silicone mold you will need to peel the mold back to remove the crayons.

Once the crayons are removed from the mold, they are ready to use.

If you want to adjust the shape or get rid of the rough edges, all you have to do is color with them to smooth them out.

For your mould and deckle for your paper, you will need two picture frames of the same size (I used 8 x 10 picture frames), spongy weather stripping with a sticky side, window screening, a staple gun, and Duct tape.

Make sure to pull the screen taught as you staple so you have a tight screen to work with once you start making your paper.

Covering the staples with Duct tape helps keep the staple surface smooth for the weather stripping to press up against.

Pull the adhesive off the weather stripping and stick it to the edge of the inside of the frame. You can cut the pieces to fit, it doesn't need to be exactly perfect.

You can use all kinds of paper to recycle. I like to use old egg cartons, construction paper, and the crayon wrappers themselves. Once you rip up your paper place them in a bowl or jar of water for a few hours to day and let them soak up the water.

Using a cheap blender (DO NOT USE YOUR NICE ONE!) Blend up the paper pieces with plenty of water.

Add more water to the tray so you can have plenty of paper mixture to pick up with your mould and deckle. Pictured is the egg carton mixture and it will create a grey colored paper.

With a sweeping motion hold your mould and deckle with the weather stripping touching the Duct tape and move the mould and deckle through the paper water to pick up paper fibers. Once you have picked up enough paper fibers allow the water to drain from the bottom of the mould and deckle.

I do this if I only want to make a single colored paper.

Once it has dripped sufficiently, remove the top picture frame to reveal the shape of your wet paper.

You can use a clean soft towel, linens, or cotton fabric for this step.

If you want to flatten your paper more gently use a rolling pin to roll the paper.

Fold the towel, linen, or cotton cloth over the piece of paper. You can continue to add additional pieces of paper between sections of the linen. Add as many pieces as you can before pressing.

I use two cutting boards on both sides of the towel/linens and place heavy object on top. You can use anything heavy. This helps squeeze the excess water out before drying. Let the paper sit like this for a few hours to a day.

I like to place my paper in front of the fireplace while on and a fan running. If you want to speed up the process you can do it in the oven on low. Just place the papers directly on the oven racks. Every so often flip the paper over so it dries evenly on both sides.

Even if it doesn't lay completely flat, that is part of the charm of homemade paper. The kids will love its uniqueness and that they helped make it.

Making your own crayons and paper is a fantastic activity for kids that they get to use and make their own. Give it a try with your kids!

DISCLAIMER: Please do not allow the children to use the grill or oven unattended. This activity requires adult supervision and assistance!