MINI-MUFFIN CRAYONS... A New Life for Broken Crayons!

''''Broken crayons?!? Don't throw them away...MAKE OLD CRAYONS-NEW AGAIN! Up-cycle your broken crayons into MINI-MUFFIN SIZED CRAYONS. You will love the tie-dyed look and your young artists will love the mini-disc size---just right for small hands!

'Package in clear plastic bags and tie with a ribbon for clever, inexpensive birthday party favors!

Start the search--collect all your broken crayons from the bottom of the art drawer and from leftover boxes brought home from school...Enjoy this quick and fun activity with your kids.

Step 1 ITEMS YOU WILL NEED

-Oven- Preheated to 275 degrees
-Mini-muffin pan
-As many broken/unwanted crayons as you can find!
-Oven mitt
-Refrigerator- To cool melted crayons after "baking"
-Dish towel

Comments

[robotguy4]

Could you make candles this way? Just add a wick?

[Megaliciouz]

Yea but just let the crayons cool for a minute then poke the wick in when the top of the crayon looks solid and lightly press your finger or a toothpick or somethng to press the wax onto the crayon/candle

[thepelton]

There are other varieties of muffin tins. I recall seeing one in cast Iron that made muffins the shape of corn cobs.

[animal lover]

cool, next holloween I'll buy bone shaped muffin tins to make these.

[drummgurl]

I'm a recent art student graduate and this is a great idea for all my left over crayons! My boyfriend has two small nieces and I thought this would be a cute xmas gift...extremely pocket friendly :) Thanks for the share!!!

[lindsaylovescrayons]

These Was Super Fun And Super Easy!!!! Had Great Results (:<3!

[TheHappyHomemaker]

I just tried this a little while ago, and my results were great. I am getting a head start on Christmas, and thought this was the cutest idea, and an adorable stocking stuffer for my daughters. To package, I am going to cut the tall tops off of the transparent blue bags that our newspaper comes delivered in, and tie them off with decorative ribbon. Thanks again for the idea!

[AlwaysAllTheTimeCrafting]

I'm giving some to my favorite Trick or Treaters~  Love your photo...

[hvansick]

What a great idea!! I love giving something other than candy that is still fun to get on Halloween. :) They don't need any more sugar than they're already getting.

[Mrballeng]

Good thinking. You think you could use chocolate molds to pour characters?

[mariaceleste]

The kids and I have made this project a few times. Love it and so easy. Don't mix in washable crayons though, big mistake, they stay soft.

[drperez]

Great instructible! it was tons of fun with the kids. We asked their elementary school teachers for all their broken crayon bits and returned the new crayons back to the them. Also tried some using Ikea ice molds and being able to use the the oven was much easier than the microwave. Thanks!

[Emma456]

Can you use cupcake liners?

[fragile.ecstasy]

Could you do this with paper cupcake liners inside of the tin, or would it mess up the paper and/or permanently fuse it to the crayons? I want to do this for my daughter's birthday, and I have hundreds of those little liners I'd love to use up.

[ian7720]

Hey, I made a batch of these using the liners and they ended up working out fine. The reason I used them is because I was hoping they would be a little bit less messy, but in the end they really didn't seem to end up helping.

[AlwaysAllTheTimeCrafting]

All of my cupcake liners are crimped/folded around the edges- not sure if the melted crayons would stick inside the folds- maybe your liners are different. 
I suggest you make the cupcake crayons without the liner and then when ready to package them (for gifts), place each one in a liner (then).  Good luck.

[fragile.ecstasy]

does anyone know a good way to keep the larger side of this (the side that is on top in the pan) smooth? I noticed all the photos I can find of these here or in etsy/hyena shops show the pan side only, so maybe it isn't just me? I'm sure they'll smooth out with use, but is there anyway to have them come out level?

[abandon your idols]

I just tried this with my little brothers, who are 12 and 8. (I'm 18, and I loveeed this, it was fun) and we had a blast! But there are some things to add: --You can use lots of different kinds of crayons, we used glow-in-the-dark and sparkly crayons --We also used a regular sized muffin tin and doubled the cooking & cooling times --With the bigger tins, we learned that it was best to use only a few colors per tin or else they kinda swirl together to make a brown mess.

[shinyegg]

Another cool idea is to heat up the broken crayons slowly in a mini toaster oven, then rub the tip over a smooth surface, like a rock. When the wax cools, you have a cool looking colored rock, kind of like ones you can buy in stores. They look really cool if you use more than one crayon or one of those multicolored crayons.

[sallost]

this is a nice instructable. 1 little question, I stumbled upon this idea on a blog. Is it yours or are you a similar thinking person? Keep up the good work!

[mg0930mg]

People have been doing this for forever.

[canida]

Very nice! I was thinking these could make a fun and functional necklace - you just drill a hole in the center of each (or block a space when melting) and adding a piece of yarn or string.

[mg0930mg]

Put a clearcoat or sealant on it, so it doesn't rub off on you. :)

[swartley3ga]

I love the necklace Idea! maybe make a loose necklace with a big crayon pendant for impromptu coloring and no more crayons in the pockets when I do laundry! I love it! The author should really try that and and add it for some added variety....Portable crayons (that don't get laundered lol)

[bubbles983]

yeah, i guess that these are pretty AMAZING!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!! <3 i have sooo many old crayons and now i know exactly what to do with them! and then when they are ready, i can COLOR WITH THEM TO?!?!?!? AH-mazing!!!! great idea!!

[ruthy nov]

something else to do with broken crayons: Cover an ironing surface with newspapr. Take a sheet of brown paper (or paper bag) and grate the crayosn on it. Play with the colors. Cover the grated crayons with another newspaper. Iron with a mild heat. It looks great and makes very good wrapping for a gift.

[AlwaysAllTheTimeCrafting]

Cool idea! Will try and use as wrapping paper. When I was a kid, I used to put crayon shavings between two sheets of wax paper. Then I would "press" with a warm iron...the crayons shavings would melt and the colors would "spread" . Then I would cut out hearts or other shapes and hang in my bedroom window...looked like mini stained glass windows.

[AlwaysAllTheTimeCrafting]

I should clarify...the two layers of wax paper and melted crayons would seal together as though laminated...No irons were damaged much to the concern of my mother!

[sewmargaretsew]

L-O-V-E this idea! Your Instructable is easy to follow and very clear and detailed! Now I have something to do with all my broken crayons. I enjoyed your variation of a popular idea. Variations are the key to advancements, and furthering ideas. The larger size makes removing the newly melted crayons easier and very kid friendly. Again, I appreciate your creative variation because it is one that fits my artistic needs better then any of the others.

[EmmettCullenrocks]

cool

[thepelton]

This would be a great project for a Kindergarten teacher to do in June.

[lukethebook333]

Good idea, and good instructable. The only problem is, that if you look under related it shows 2 other instructables that were also featured and are extremely similar to this one.

[robotguy4]

Mmmmm... Tasty...

Wait... I SAID WHAT?

You could also melt said crayons in a solar oven, however, make sure that said solar oven is weighed down if its windy. Melted wax is a pain to clean off of tinfoil and concrete... It looks cool, though..

[wupme]

Now i need some crayons :( Should i buy some, brake them in the middle, and then melt ? ;-)

[EaglesNest]

I tried doing this recently with another brand of crayons (not Crayola) and found that the cheap brand turned into a mud brown mess. They didn't keep their distinct colors the way Crayola does. The cheap brands must be something other than wax?

[wupme]

Maybee the temprature was to high? If wax gets to hot it tends to form "swirls" and those could mix the colours up. I'm always for lower temprature and more time on things like this.

[AlwaysAllTheTimeCrafting]

Thanks for your note...know you were disappointed with the off brand result. This batch of broken crayons was given to me by a teacher when she cleaned out her art cabinet at the end of the school year. I would estimate these are 70% name brand "Crayola" and 30% discount brand. I have made several batches of the "mini muffin crayons" from this mix and had no problems.

[EaglesNest]

Maybe it was the temperature. I don't remember what the brand was but I'll have to try again :)

[AlwaysAllTheTimeCrafting]

Maybe it's the temp...I also grouped 2-4 crayons of the same color in sections of the muffin tin and then added 2-4 of another color...maybe that helps maintain the integrity of the colors...not sure. Good luck-

[8bit]

do you know what brand?