A Fun Sunday Project- Cheap Treat for Kids!

So like you, I have finally had a chance to get back into my classroom to prep for Back to School 2015.  We had new flooring put down in parts of our building so it was a "No Feet Zone" for the better part of the week and I was truly itching to get back into my space and start unpacking and getting organized. I am sharing my gargantuan space that I had all to myself last school year. It was a the former "Computer Lab" and since all computers are now on carts, there was no need to keep the room as the lab.  I made myself quite at home last year and now am working on cozying up in half of the space I had previously.

So, while I was in my room, I was cleaning out the pile of crayons from the last million years or so. I hate to throw them out but EVERYONE LOVES NEW CRAYONS RIGHT?  I had seen the project on Pinterest about chopping up the crayons into little pieces, melting them in molds to create rainbow crayons, and had been planning on trying it for ages. I have even had the silicone molds from IKEA for over a year and figured today was the day.  After all, a gal needs a fun project on a Sunday when the Hubs is a bit under the weather right?

So first I used my Xacto knife to make sure all wrappers were off of the crayons.  You would think they were all in little bits and pieces but they really weren't. Chop away! That was my goal!  I preheated my oven to 230 degrees.

After removing the wrappers, I found my junkiest knife in my drawer and began to chop them into bits.  The crayons had to be small since the molds were pretty small but I wanted to keep them large enough so the new crayons would have different flecks of color visible to the eye. I fit as many of the crayon bits into the molds as I could, providing a variety of color in each mold.  I set my two molds onto a cookie sheet and put them into the oven for 15 minutes.  At this point, keep an eye on them as your oven may vary. Pull them out when they look pretty melted and cool on the counter.  Some of my new crayons were a little murky, so I popped in a few colored bits into the hot wax last minute while still liquified to break up the brown! The silicone molds don't appear to clean up easily.  That's fine by me if they are color stained as this is the only thing I plan on doing with them.  So bakers beware!

Once completely cool, then they can be popped out of the molds and you are good to go. What a fun and CHEAP little treat for your kids.  I think my kids will love using these to write their sight words in a "RAINBOW STYLE"!   Happy creating!

Until Next Time,
Taryn
Taryn's Unique Learning