HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN CRAYONS (SERIOUSLY)

I am not a very crafty person to begin with, but I really detest having to do crafts with my kids. Mainly, I am too obsessed with order and organization and doing things perfectly to enjoy having small, messy, impulsive children trying to "help" me. (Am I writing my own application for Mother of the Year here, or what?)

But enough about my maternal deficiencies. Along comes my super fabulous subscription to Real Simple magazine. If you do not get this magazine, you should. It is Awesome. And Real. And Simple. Who couldn't use an extra dose of that in their lives, right?

(They don't pay me for this.)

(But they should.)

They had this awesome (and real and simple) idea this month to take all your old, stubby, broken crayons and turn them into new crayons. It seemed like something I could pull off. Even with my children helping me.

Here is the step by step guide (with pictures!) to this great project that you should most definitely try with your kids:

1. Collect all your old, stubby, broken crayons and peel the paper off of them. Your kids will complain mightily about this. It is a great time to teach them that sometimes we have to work hard and do things we don't want to do in order to achieve something good (life lesson #1). You will also get a lot of shards of crayon wax under your finger nails. Refer yourself to life lesson #1 and set a good example for your children by acting like it's no big deal.

2. In the magazine, it says to put foil cupcake liners in your regular muffin tins. I couldn't find foil liners (only paper ones, which won't work) so I bought disposable muffin tins. Fill them 2/3 full with crayons.

3. Put them in the oven at 275 degrees until they melt (about 10 minutes or so). This is great entertainment for small children. The crayons will be liquid when they come out. Be forewarned that it makes your oven smell like hot wax.


4. Let them cool for a few minutes and then put them in the freezer (make sure they stay flat!) until they harden completely.


5. Pop them out of the muffin tins and color away! You might also want to explain to your children that they are not, in fact, Reese's Peanut Butter cups. This will help you avoid major confusion and a possible call to Poison Control (surprisingly enough, I am NOT speaking from experience here).

Chubby crayons for chubby hands!

While we were making these, Lauren said, "Mom, it's like we're recycling our old crayons and that's good for the environment!" (life lesson #2)


And that fills my craftiness quota for the year.