Good Green Fun with Crayons

I just received an e-mail from What's Hot for Tots asking me to joining their Crayon Crew.

Of course I did!

I actually was just reading in a magazine (can't remember which one, maybe Real Simple?) about how to recycle just about anything and crayons were on their list (with a different organization mentioned...but hey, the more the merrier!)

What's Hot for Tots will take old crayons and melt them into new ones which will be donated to schools, hospitals and care centers. How cool is that?

Now, if you are very motivated - you can do your own crayon recycling.
Tater's class did this last year at school.

First you need to carefully peel the wrappers off of the crayons. The kids had a great time doing this, although the little bits of paper ("schnibbles", as my Mom would say) were all over the place.

Then take the crayon bits and pieces and put them in the cups of a metal muffin tin. You can mix the colors in the different cups, or do one color in each - completely dependent on your personal preference.

Put the muffin tin in the oven at 200 degrees for about 10 minutes, until the wax melts. Keep a close eye on the crayons, no fires!

Let the wax cool completely before you pop the new, round crayons out of the tin.
How fun is that?

Here are some very ambitious ideas for recycled crayon activities.

I also found this when trying to find a recommendation for how to melt the crayons (they did it at school...I wasn't there!)

So - now that the kids are all off to school with new boxes of fresh, pointy crayons - clean out the cabinets and recycle the old ones!