Beanie girl had her tonsils removed earlier this week, and since we have to stay home for 7 - 10 days for her recovery period, we're trying to keep ourselves from going stir crazy. Luckily, Beanie is feeling pretty great, and she wants to do things, rather than just sit on the couch with a blanket. While we can't really do any physical activities, there are plenty of arts, crafts, and projects we can do at home to help her stay calm and busy. 

One of our favorite things to do together is to look for everyday items around that house that we can reuse. Beanie loves to color but is often hard on crayons, and we seem to through them pretty often. We have several bins of broken crayons, and it's really easy to use the broken crayons to make brand new rainbow crayons.

DIY Rainbow Crayons

This is a simple and quick activity that you can do with your little or big kids! They can help remove the paper from broken crayons while an adult cut the crayon pieces into smaller pieces. The kids will love being able to create their own unique crayons, and this is a great lesson on how to be good stewards of the earth by reusing and repurposing items.

You Will Need:

Broken crayons, cut into pea-size pieces, paper removed

A mini muffin tin or silicone mold

A pair of scissors

Mini bowls for sorting crayon pieces

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 35 degrees.

Lightly oil a mini muffin tin or silicone mold.

Have the kids remove any paper from the broken crayons.

An adult should cut the broken crayons into pea-sized pieces.

Sort the crayon pieces by color in small bowls. Let the kiddos sort the colors for an added lesson on sorting by color.

Let the kids fill the bottoms of a mini muffin tin or fill up the silicone molds.

Place the filled tin or molds onto a baking sheet.

An adult should place the baking sheet in the oven for 5 minutes or until the wax is completely melted.

An adult should next remove the mold from the oven and let the melted wax come to room temperature. You can then place the mold into the freezer for about 10 minutes to speed up the cooling process. This will help the melted wax harden into a new crayon in the shape of the mold used.

When the wax has cooled and the crayons are set, simply remove the new crayons from their molds. If you used a silicone mold (like I did), you should be able to simply pop the crayons out. Voila- you now have new crayons! Beanie asked if we could make unicorn crayons next time, which means that we'll be adding lots of glitter!

Beanie has loved coloring with these new crayons. She got to make something that she can use to create new works of art. Unlike a lot of other projects for kids, this one is quick to make, and you only have to wait about 10 minutes to be able to use what you made.

The crayons would make adorable gifts for classmates for Valentine's day! Simply use a heart-shaped mold to make the crayons!

I can't wait to hear how much fun you have making these neat rainbow crayons with your kiddos!

Be sure to tell me all about it below in the comments or on MBP social media:

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Wishing you a creative day!