Old crayons, new tricks
Broken crayons are perhaps the most depressing of school supplies. But don’t throw them away! Instead, melt your stubs down and turn them into new crayons. We used muffin tins, but depending on what mold you choose (try soap molds or pastel trays), you could turn them into all kinds of shapes! Just make sure to melt them in heat-safe containers. Old crayons, new tricks
Materials:
- Broken crayons
- Muffin Tray
- Oven
Directions
- 1 Gather all your old, broken crayons.
- 2 Remove all wrappers.
- 3 Put crayons in muffin tray tins. You can organize by color or just throw in whatever!
- 4 Melt down the crayons in an oven.
- 5 Let cool.
- 6 Enjoy!
TIP
If you aren’t using muffin tins, carefully pour the hot wax into your molds before letting it cool.
Colored pencil vase
Colored pencils are great for more than just coloring. Rather than add more pencils to the overflowing tub of colors, try making a fun vase out of your leftover colored pencils. It’s super easy and works great as a teacher gift. Colored pencil vase
Materials:
- Colored pencils
- An old can or cup
- Hot glue
- Rubber band
Directions
- 1 Establish a color pattern. Or just wing it!
- 2 Wrap a rubber band tightly around your can.
- 3 Add your colored pencils in the pattern you’d like.
- 4 Remove your colored pencil, add a line of hot glue and replace it. Make sure to mark where you started!
- 5 Let the vase cool for a few hours before removing the rubber band.
- 6 Add flowers!
Marker Watercolors
Dried up markers. They sneak their way into every supply drawer. Don’t let that sad, faint line fool you—there’s plenty of life left in your markers! All you have to do is add water and a paint brush.
Marker WatercolorsMaterials:
- Dried up markers
- Ziploc® containers
- Water
Directions
- 1 Depending on how many old markers you have, group them according to color, i.e., all your shades of reds, yellows, blues, etc.
- 2 Put each shade grouping, or individual marker, into a Ziploc® container of water. The less water you use, the stronger the color.
- 3 Let them sit. The longer you let them sit, the more intense the colors will be.
- 4 And have fun painting!
- 5 Screw the tops back on the Ziploc® containers and store the rest for another time.
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