She kept flinging crayons all over the kitchen floor, and I kept picking them up. She did it over and over, and I still kept picking them up. Over and over. Sometimes I would find remnants of little crayons way beyond the normal coloring nook that I created for her and her big sister. She had apparently traveled with them to other parts of the house - - a habit she's good at with a lot of different toys. What's so hard is that these little crayons are so hard to see. Then I discovered a solution. I melted them down into chunkier, easier to find crayons. Not only are these chunkier crayons easier to find, but they were fun to make with my little ones.

On one typical grocery trip, I stopped through the bakeware section and picked up some small silicon muffin cups - - which came in a 12 pack. These are the perfect size for those little hands - - not too small for keeping up with, and not too big for their hands to grasp or use. What's great about these muffin cups is that they are flexible, so when the wax dried all I had to do was peel the muffin cup away - -and I still have them to reuse later. They also came in those great, captivating primary colors of red, yellow and blue.

The catch is that it took some time to get the crayon remnants into the cups. The benefit to this catch is that I was spending quality time with my girls the whole time. Though it took a lot of time to peel the paper off of some of the old crayons, we did this together while discussing what color each crayon was, and each color mixture we were creating. My older daughter pretty much knows her colors, but my younger one is just starting to learn her colors. So this ended up being a great lesson for her. My older daughter gained confidence and a closer relationship with her little sister, by teaching her colors with mommy.

Both of my girls got to learn sorting. We made cups with one color in them, cups with contrasting colors in them, and cups with complimentary colors. So they got to learn artistic techniques, and also became fascinated with the results of their efforts: The reds came out red, the greens and blues came out in new green and blue colors, the reds and yellows made oranges.

Patience is always a great virtue to teach children, and my older daughter got to create some of this in her character.
"How long will it be before we can color with the crayons, mommy?"
"Are they ready yet?"
"Can I look at them?"

I put the small muffin cups and crayons on an old dinner plate, and put them in the microwave for 5 minutes. It might take you longer to get all of the wax to melt. So you'll just have to play it by ear. I know that you can also put them in the oven. I think it's suggested that you put them in for 300 degrees. If you want a more accurate temperature, then you should google it. I did - - and there were several methods that came up. I think it just depends on which method you're most comfortable with.
This was the first time we attempted to recycle our crayons. I plan on perfecting my methods before becoming ambitious enough to sell recycled crayons. A more likely idea would be to recycle them for into favors for my daughters' birthday parties. Wait, did you read that right? Party favors? Yes, you can recycle your old crayons into party favors. Go to a craft store (I didn't find these at my grocer). They have all kinds of different candy molds. I'm sure you'd be able to find your kid's favorite character. Instead of melting the crayons directly into their molds you will have to take a measuring glass that you're comfortable designating for recycling crayons, and melt the crayons in there. Then pour the melted wax into the molds. You can accelerate the process by putting the molds and melted crayon wax in the freezer. They should pop right out!