It’s likely that you have a ton of broken, old crayons sitting around if you have kids living in your home. These abandoned art supplies may be swiftly and simply transformed into brand-new crayons that are ready for use once again. Send your youngster on a quest to locate them all among the desks, art supply cabinets, and couch cushions. Once you’ve located them, use these actions to give them new life.
If your youngster is interested, this craft might potentially develop into a little scientific lesson. Discuss the three states of matter—liquid, solid, and gas—at length. By adding heat or removing it, matter may transition from one condition to another. A conversation starter is an ice cube. What happens when you leave the ice out in the hot sun? What transpires if the ice cube’s liquid is returned to the freezer? This craft may make use of the idea of transformation.
Ask your kid to consider the original condition of the crayons (solids), then have them speculate on what would occur when heat is applied to the crayon (melts to liquid), and finally have them observe what occurs when you place the liquid crayons in the freezer (becomes a solid). A fantastic way to pique your child’s interest in important scientific ideas is to have them do experiments while creating art.
What You’ll Need
Equipment / Tools Materials
- Muffin tray Crayons
- Oven
- Freezer
Instructions
1. Break Apart Crayons and Sort by Color
Make sure there is no paper wrapping around your crayons before anything else. The melting process may be hampered by the paper. Break the crayons into even smaller bits once the paper has been removed. To allow kids to select the crayons they want to use, we advise grouping the crayon pieces by color.
2. Fill Muffin Tray with Crayons and Bake to Melt
Before continuing, make sure there is an adult present. Heat your oven to 275 degrees. Put the silicon muffin pan, which is what we used, on top of a baking sheet before putting it in the oven.
Choose one to three crayon colors to add to each mold, filling it all the way to the top (or halfway if you like a thinner crayon). Remember that the colors could marble together, so pick complementary hues instead.
Place the tray carefully into the oven, and then set the timer for 8 to 10 minutes. For your youngster to watch the crayons melt, we advise turning on the oven light. Use an oven mitt to carefully remove the tray from the oven once the crayons have completely melted into a liquid.
If your silicon tray is microwave safe, you can also melt the crayons there. Watch the crayons attentively as they melt for 5-7 minutes after setting the timer. When finished, carefully remove the microwave using an oven mitt.
3. Freeze Melted Crayons
The tray has to be placed in the freezer so that the liquid crayons may solidify into their new shape. Placing the extremely hot crayon wax in the freezer will hasten the process of hardening while also cooling the crayons. Keep the tray out of reach but at eye level if you do not want to expedite the process or if you want a youngster to see the new crayons get hard over time.
4. Take New Crayons Out of Tray
Carefully remove the fresh crayons from the muffin tray. You run the danger of having them shatter if you don’t wait until they are room temperature or if you try to pop them out while they are still frozen. As soon as we took our crayons out of the freezer, we were eager to see how they looked, but one cracked immediately! With this easy craft, perseverance pays off. Enjoy using your brand-new crayons!
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