There is nothing like opening a new package of crayons. The smell, the color, the feel of them in my hands gets me every time. The bigger the box the better! My kids still all love to color with crayons. As do I. But every now and then, they break or get lost only to be found later and in not the best of shape. After a while the kids lose interest in the dull, flattened tips. We need crayons. Perhaps we will get some tomorrow. In the meantime I found a great project to keep the kids busy and recycle the ones we already have.
Yes, I know everyone has baked broken crayons at some point in their lives. I've always wanted to but I haven't ever done so... until yesterday. Rebecca was at a friend's house and so I gathered the boys to help me peel the paper of the little waxy sticks and break the ones that were not broken. This was harder and more time consuming than I expected, but the boys enjoyed it thoroughly.
We placed the broken bits into this flower shaped silicone mini cupcake tin... which isn't really tin... but I didn't know what else to call it! We placed the crayons on top of a metal cookie sheet that was covered with aluminum foil so as not to chance ruining the cookie sheet. The broken crayon bits were placed in a 350 degree oven for about 12 minutes.
After the 12 minutes the wax had completely melted and the crayons took on their new shapes. I removed the hot wax from the oven and placed the crayons in the freezer for about 15 minutes to cool and harden.
When sufficiently hard, I just placed the sheet upside-down and gently popped the wax shapes out!
Aren't these adorable? They would make a lovely project and goody for a little girl's flower themed party!
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Alexander dressed himself this morning. I came downstairs to find him playing ever so nicely by himself in the family room with the Alexander Calder stabiles he and his brother made in preschool.
Is he not the fitting image of a True Prep?
