Thrifty Thursday: Crayon Cuties

August 27, 2009 at 11:52 am | Posted in Kids Arts & Crafts, Recycling, Thrifty Thursday | 4 Comments
Tags: arts and crafts, crayons, diy, eco-friendly, kids, recycled

Kids love crayons. They like to color on walls, on furniture, on everything! Kids also tend to break crayons, and I’ve noticed that a broken crayon isn’t nearly as appealing to a child as an unbroken one. In my classrooms, I would always end the year with a GIANT bin of broken, paperless crayons that had been ignored by my preschoolers. And like most preschools, we were encouraged to reduce, reuse, and recycle our materials as much as possible to keep our budget in line. So I would chip the broken crayons up, combine them in multi-colored piles, and melt them in mini-muffin tins to create brand-new crayon cuties. The children always loved them! 

BENEFITS OF CHUBBY CRAYONS:

• Helps to develop fine motor muscles in the hands, which are important for pre-writing
• Prevents pre-writers from “fisting” crayons, forcing them to use finger grips instead
• Easy for even the smallest artists to grasp and pull across paper

Making your own Crayon Cuties:

1. Gather up any broken crayons you have around the house.

2. Peel off crayon papers and break into small pieces.

3. Place broken crayons in mini-muffin tins in solid or varied colors.

4. Bake in 300 degree oven for 5 minutes, or until wax is completely melted.

5. Immediately place in the freezer and allow to cool completely before removing from tins. Enjoy!