Many times when an art project is completed, there are extra art supplies left over. This is especially true of crayons. Crayons are easily broken and a typical parent or art teacher often winds up with a whole box of crayon bits and pieces. Thinking creatively, one can learn how to recycle art supplies, such as crayon bits, rather than wastefully throw them away. For instance, one of the simplest ways to recycle wax crayons is by using a small, baking sheet with high edges or small muffin or shaped cake pans to melt the pieces down in the oven, creating new, usable crayons.

Materials:

A lot of crayon bits and pieces
A small baking sheet, muffin pan, or cake pan
An oven

Instructions:

1. Remove all paper from the crayon pieces and sort by colors.
2. Fill the tray or individual pan modules to just below the top with crayon pieces. (Hint: Make multi-color crayons by adding more than one color of crayon piece to each module or tray.)
3. Turn the oven on to the lowest heat setting.
4. Place the baking tray or pan in the oven.
5. Watch closely as the crayons melt to make sure they melt gently and do not boil over the edges of the pan or tray. As they melt, they will merge into one another to form the new crayon.
6. Remove the baking tray from the oven and place on the stove or counter top to cool.
7. If using a baking sheet, allow the crayons to cool about half way, until soft and pliable, then cut into crayon size rectangles before allowing to finish cooling.
8. After the crayons have completely cooled, they can be removed from the pans or trays and used for the next coloring project!

Since the oven is used for this how to recycle art supplies project, it is very important for children to have adult supervision at all times during this project. Although this is a very simple recycling project, ovens do become hot and can still pose a danger to small children if left unsupervised. And most importantly, be sure to have fun!!