After chancing on some neat, one-dollar ice cube molds at Ikea, I started thinking that repurposing the crayons into fun shapes would breathe new life into those misfit pieces. The crayon shapes ended up being a hit with my boys. These crayons were so cheap and easy to make, they'd be great stocking stuffers for kids!
Supplies:
- Crayons
- Flexible molds/ice cube trays
- X-Acto knife
- Cookie sheet
Instructions:
Step 1
Preheat oven to 200° F. Next, work on peeling off the paper wrappers from each crayon. Running the blade of an X-Acto knife down the length of the wrapper will help this step go quickly.
Step 2
Break crayons into pieces. Smaller bits will melt more quickly in the oven and will therefore have less time to run and bleed into neighboring colors. Use a kitchen knife to cut pieces down to about 1/2".
Step 3
Fill molds with crayon pieces. I wanted the crayons to be monochromatic, so I grouped similar colors together, graduating from dark to light, but rainbow crayons would be fun too!
Make sure to just slightly overfill each mold, as the crayons will melt down and take up less space.
Step 4
Place molds on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until crayons are completely melted.
Step 5
Very carefully, so as to not spill any melted crayon, remove cookie sheet from the oven.
Step 6
As the crayons cool, they will harden. To speed up the process, transfer molds into the freezer after the crayons firm up.
Step 7
After about 30 minutes, remove molds from the freezer. If the bottoms of the mold are cool, you can release the crayons from the mold by first gently pulling and stretching molds to loosen up crayons, then pushing each crayon up and out from the bottom. If the molds are still warm to the touch, return to the freezer and check again for coolness in 10 minutes.
More holiday ideas
Ideas for your own Elf on the Shelf
Edible Christmas crafts
DIY candy mint Christmas tree