Step one entailed my two helpers peeling all the crayon papersoff of the crayons and breaking them into smaller pieces. Next we put the crayons in rainbow order into the jar, carefully dangling the wick into the jar as we piled the crayons in. I tied the top end of the wick onto a pencil to help hold it taut. Then we decided to use the 100+ degree sun to melt the wax.
It took about 5 hours in the hot sun to get it mostly melted. I put it on top of a sheet of tin foil to help hasten the melting. It worked.
We lit it and enjoyed the warm glow and waxy scent for a few minutes before the wick burned out. We relit it and had a few more minutes before it burned out again.
All in all, I think it was an educational experience about solar heat and color combinations. One side of the jar melted the colors into a lovely black goo, while the other just melted the colors into color pools. The kids had a good time and felt that they were doing a good thing recycling the crayons into something useful.
On http://crockpot365.blogspot.com she has a melted/recycled crayons in the crockpot experiment and a make your own candles with crayons experiment. I had thought about trying her idea before and then I saw your post too. I'm inspired!
This is just too cool! I would wonder what it would be like if scrap candles were also mixed in since they have a lower melting point I presume.
Melt your crayon pieces in a cupcake tin in the oven for 'home made' crayons. You can mix the colors or not. Could be fun to have mixed crayons :D
Tami, it is great fun! We've done several versions of remade crayons. The girls like the heart shaped mixed color ones the best!
Wouldnt it smell when you burn it??
It smelled like melted crayons. I find that smell more interesting than many of the scents out there today, but I suppose for some it might be bothersome.
This is so fun! I am a teacher, and I totally want to use this to teach my kids about solar power and change in states of matter! :)
Ms. BBZ - Integrated Learning in Second Grade
You could also try melting the crayons and pouring them into a cleaned out glue stick tube. You end up with jumbo crayon sticks that they can roll up. I saw it on pinterest and thought that it was a pretty cool idea.
I have always liked taking the broken pieces of crayons and cooking them in the oven into different shapes then you have colorful new crayons =).
Sara
http://misssara2008.blogspot.com/
We make these with sm jars and we insert a birthday candle in the center instead of a wick; much cheaper. We send them home with this poem: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/End-of-Kindergarten-Crayon-Candle
We melted our little pieces in bathroom cups. (You could probably use throw away muffin tins) Melted them in the sun and had new crayons.
greate idea my kiddo will luv this
I wonder how it would turn out if you just used primary colors?
I have 3 kids and we used the crayons they brought home at the end of the school year. They spent a rainy day peeling crayons. They each have their own decoration for their room. We don't plan to ever burn them.
We like doing the hole melting them in an old cleaned out glue stick but I put my glue sticks all lined up on a cookie sheet and set in in my car while I am at work the car heat in the car melts them all down and u don't notice how long it takes because you are at work while it is happening.
You could do this in a low dish... put a votive holder in the middle of the crayons. When they melt they seal in the votive holder and they you can add your own candle, scented or not, in votive size. the crayons are just decoration and don't even need to melt completely to turn into "goo". Just and idea. I teach kindergarten... Great parent gifts at xmas. We do them in August/September on really hot days...then they are done.
Heading to spend Thanksgiving with the grandkids, and will return for Christmas. A couple of years ago I crocheted my daughter the crayon blanket http://www.crochetme.com/media/p/88943.aspx. Planning to make have the kids help me melt the crayons for http://www.pinterest.com/pin/276338127107132618/. Now I'll have to have them help me make the crayon candle. We'll use a votive holder so that the crayons themselves don't melt during a burn, but mom can reuse the votive. We will use their old broken crayons (I always provide them with new crayons when I visit). Now we'll have a present for mom and one for dad. Such very cool ideas.
Perhaps if you use a real candle wicks you can find one that wont burn out, like maybe a zinc and cotton wick with the metal plate at the bottom.
Could we add essential oils to the crayons to scent the candles, or would that change the chemical make-up of the crayon wax?