Make: Molded Crayons for Any Occasion

Whether you want to make special crayons for a party or as a fun summer activity, it’s a fun and inexpensive way to get creative.

Over the past six months or so, I have probably made six different varieties of molded crayons to cover some fun occasions.

Hearts with a pink, purple, and white color theme for Valentine’s Day treats for Madeline’s classmates.

Woodland animals to go in goody bags for Madeline’s birthday party.

Woodland animals for a teacher friend’s kindergarten class.

Hearts with bright colors for Easter treats for my nieces and Madeline.

The possibilities are endless, and it’s super cheap to do.

Here’s how.

You need silicone molds first. You can buy all sorts of shapes on Amazon, and I’ve gotten a few there, and during a holiday season, you can usually find them really inexpensively at The Christmas Tree Shop as well (the heart and egg molds came from there, and the woodland animals came from Amazon).

Crayons.

You’ll need lots and lots of crayons. 

 

This is the perfect use for all those broken crayons that are impossible to color with. I usually have an empty tub, and every time I go through our crayon collection to purge all the broken bits, I pop them into the tub. That way I have enough when I need them for a project. I don’t recommend using off-brands for this project (or for coloring). No dollar store stock-ups for this project. Crayola is the best.

Decide your color theme. If you just use all the random colors together, your finished product may look a little muddy. I try to stick within the same color section — pink/purple/white, blue/green/white, etc — so you have complementary colors.

For this project, you need to peel the wrappers off all your crayons. The easiest way to do this is 1) use a razor blade to slit the seam and peel it off or 2) put the crayons in a large bowl and pour hot water on them. Drain the water out and then the paper is really easy to peel. Towel dry the crayons.

Now the fun part. Put all your bits and pieces in a large Ziploc bag and smash them. You want them in little pieces so you can easily fill up the molds. The smaller the molds, the smaller your pieces need to be.

Oven on 275. Fill the molds with the crayon pieces. Put your filled mold on a baking sheet (to make it easier to get in and out of the oven) and put it in the oven. After about 15 minutes, you’ll see the crayons have melted into little pools of color in the silicone mold, but that the liquid doesn’t come to the top of the mold impression. That’s when I take it out and add more crayons. If you don’t, once you’re done, you won’t have a flat top on your crayon, and that makes it harder to grip.

Let the new addition melt, about ten minutes, and remove from the oven. They won’t *look* done because they are just little pools of melted crayon. But as they cool, they harden. Once they’re completely cooled, carefully pop them out of the molds.

These days, we are not allowed to send food items into school to celebrate birthdays, so these make a great little gift. Tuck some orange and black blended ones into Halloween treat bags. Color coordinate a batch for an upcoming birthday party.

Or make them just because.