Melt Crayons Into Building Bricks!

When my grand kids were little, we had a lot of toys and things for them to play with in our house for when they came to visit. This included coloring books and crayons. Over the years I collected a lot of crayons and I put them in a tin container. I doubt that they would ever use them again so I really had no us for them anymore. So, I was very happy to see the Crayon Instructable, only I wasn't sure what I would want to do with them. I thought about melting them and making a painting, but I saw that was already done. Then I thought I could melt them into some useful shape. I looked online and saw silicone building brick-shaped molds that look just like the ones my kids and grand kids played with. Awesome! I knew I had my idea and I ordered them for this project. I think they turned out great and I enjoyed putting them to use! Here I will show you how to make the building brick shapes and what I chose to make with them. I hope you enjoy!!!

Supplies

Assorted crayons

Silicone building brick shaped molds

Baking sheet or cutting board

Large bowl

Water

Sharp knife

Microwave oven

Step 1: Soaking Time

Place the crayons in a large bowl. Add tap water. Let soak for at least 10 minutes. This will loosen the paper from the crayons.

Step 2: Peel Them!

Carefully peel the paper off of each crayon, then arrange them on a baking tray, grouping the matching colors together.

Step 3: Cut the Crayons

Cut each crayon keeping the colors together, cutting them to fit the molds.

Step 4: Add to Molds

Add the cut crayons to the molds, filling as much as possible.

Step 5: Melt Them!

Place one silicone mold in your microwave oven. Cook on high power for 8 minutes. Check to see if the crayons are completely melted. If not fully melted, cook on high for another minute. The silicone molds and melted crayon will be very hot, so remove them carefully from the microwave oven.

Step 6: Allow to Cool

Cool on the counter or refrigerate until solid.

Step 7: Push Them Out

When the building bricks are fully cooled, press and pop them out of each mold. They are now ready for your creativity! I decided to make a cowboy and a girl out of my crayon bricks!

Step 8: Start Making a Cowboy

Use black bricks to make his boots and blue bricks for his pants.

Step 9: Add the Body

White bricks form his belt, use blue bricks for his chest and red bricks for his shirt/arms.

Step 10: Make the Arms and Head

Finish his arms with red bricks and use yellow bricks for his hands, Orange bricks form his face. Black bricks are used for his mouth and eyes. Red bricks are used for his hat.

I think he turned out very cute!

Step 11: Now Make a Girl

Start with black bricks for her feet and orange bricks for her legs.

Step 12: Make the Dress

Arrange red bricks to form her dress.

Step 13: Add the Arms

Add orange bricks for the arms.

Step 14: Make the Head and Hair

Add yellow bricks for the head and black bricks for the hair.

Step 15: All Finished!

This was a very fun and satisfying project to make! I really didn't know what I was going to do with all of those crayons we had and I am very happy with how the building bricks turned out. You can use any color crayons that you have on hand, melt them into bricks and create anything you would like! Thanks for viewing my Instructable! Let me know if you decide to make some building bricks too and what you decide to make with them!!