Today is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day! What better way to celebrate than by recycling old crayons. It’s always better to re-purpose something if you can! We have a TON of crayons leftover from parties and wanted to reuse them by making them into cute, colorful bug shapes! Perfect for Earth Day! There is also a FREE printable included below to put them to the test! 🙂
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Materials needed:
- Crayons
- Silicone mold – This is the exact one I purchased
- Cookie sheet
- X-Acto Knife (optional)
Directions:
Gather all of your crayons. Use an X-Acto knife to slice the paper length ways down the crayon. You can also peel the crayons by hand but it takes A LOT longer.
Once the paper is removed, break each crayon into 3 – 4 pieces. Keep in mind, bigger pieces will take longer to melt so try to keep the pieces consistent.
Randomly fill the molds with the broken crayons. It’s okay if the crayons stick up a little above the mold. They will melt down.
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place molds on cookie sheet (this will help prevent wax from spilling out when taking them out of the oven).
- Bake for 15 – 20 minutes. I started with 15 minutes and kept checking every minute after until they were completely melted.
Let cool for 30 – 60 minutes. You can also place in the freezer to speed up this process. Once hardened you can pop each crayon out of the mold.
Earth Day Coloring Page Printable:
I’ve included a FREE printable to use your new crayon creations on! This is also a great coloring page to complete with regular crayons or markers as well to celebrate Earth Day!
My daughter really enjoyed using the bug shaped crayons to color her picture! They’re almost like little “toys” to her now!
She really enjoyed this activity and wanted to keep making more crayons! There are a lot of cute silicone molds available to accomplish this. These would also make really cute gifts or party favors to hand out as well. Remember, it’s important to teach your kids the importance of recycling and ways to re-purpose things to help the Earth! ♥
