Every so often I reach a point in my mothering journey where I get *so*tired* of picking up little bits of crayon from all over the place. I hate to throw the pieces away, but I know if I just keep them then I'll just be picking them up again the next day. This is my solution. My kids love the big multi colored crayons, and I love having so few items to pick up! I thought I'd share my method, as my very first tutorial!
Start by making sure that all of the paper has been removed from the crayons, (in our house they always peel the crayons before they even start coloring with them, lol) and sort them into whatever combinations you like. I did reds/pinks/white; yellow/orange/brown/grey; and blues/greens/purples. I have a regularly sized muffin tin, so that's what I used. I just filled the other spaces with papers, not sure if you have to, but somehow it seemed to make sense. :) Preheat oven to 275*F, and pop them in on a middle rack.
It took me about 8-10 minutes to get everything nicely melted. I have found that smaller pieces melt faster so you may want to be sure they're all about even when you split them up. Once about 90% is melted you can poke at them with a tooth pick. Not everything has to be melted, so long as you can push anything solid down into the liquid. Try not to stir it to much, or you will mix the colors up into a rather nasty shade. Once they are done, remove them from the oven and let the pan cool. I like to then pop it into the freezer for 10-15 minutes, you can tell if they're ready to remove from the pan when there is a hairline crack around the entire edge.
Just flip the pan over onto a towel and smack each of the cups three or four-ish times. They'll be a bit funny looking on the top, but a few coloring sessions and they'll be fine. :)
And the colors are so pretty!
Let me know if you try it, and what you think!! I'm thinking of just doing this from the start from now on...like fresh out of the box. I'm thinking it would be fun to make some in rainbow colors, or holiday themed ones. The possibilities are endless!
what pray tell is the name of the ravelry group you were telling me about? and i "love" the crayons!
ReplyDeleteI love this idea! And they're probably much easier to use for little hands, too. Simple but oh-so-clever! I'll definitely keep this in mind once our little one(s) start getting into the crayon stage :-)
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Shannon
I have a friend who has tons of daughters and her number one complain is all the sparkles she has to pick up.
ReplyDelete