Inside: a fool-proof guide to melting old and broken crayons down and turning them into super cool LEGO pieces. What makes them “super” is that they are actually stackable (read: can be used for building!).
Are you drowning in a sea of broken crayons?
I sure am.
Yesterday I opened my purse at the grocery checkout and came up with three broken crayons – hardly enough to pay for my groceries :). Then I got home and stepped on … yep, broken crayon. And this morning, I opened my bathroom cabinet where I keep my toothbrush and, for god’s sake, a crayon. Apparently, we keep them there now.
It was broken too, of course.
I recently learned that an average American kid uses 730 crayons by age 10. I was not surprised.
If you are like me, and everywhere you look is another broken crayon, join me on this crayon hunting expedition! The immediate goal is to search for and round up every broken crayon in your house. Why? So that we can finally find them a life purpose because we all know that a crayon without a purpose is a very sad crayon.
If you’re like, oh sure, Eva, sounds good, but I know my children. I will spend all this time on the project, and my kids will spend two minutes playing with them before saying, “Okay, what’s next?”
No, no, you don’t do it for your kids while they are away doing something else!
This is the project you involve your kids in for two reasons.
One, they will always have the memories of making those LEGO pieces together long after you’re gone. And two, this is highly educational! I will give you talking points at the end of the post, but just to give you an idea…
With this project, your kids can learn about:
- molecules,
- the states of matter (solids, liquids),
- heat transfer, and
- cause and effect
They will also practice:
- Fine motor skills (unwrapping all those broken crayons),
- Logic and reasoning (what caused what),
- Engineering skills (while building with crayon LEGO), and
- Literacy and writing skills (when experimenting with writing with newly made LEGO)
Some cool facts you can share with your kids during the project:
- The distinctive crayon smell comes from the beef tallow in crayon wax. Yuk!
- Crayons have been around for over a hundred years. They were invented in 1903.
- The first box of crayons sold for a nickel and contained 8 colors.
- More than 100 billion crayons have been manufactured to this day – that’s enough to cover the planet earth 5 times!
How to Recycle Your Old Crayons into LEGO
What you need:
Broken crayons
LEGO molds
What to do
1. Preheat the oven
Turn the oven to 325F. You can try 350F if you want to speed it up, but keep an eye on it. The crayons melt faster than you expect them to (or so it always seems to me).
2. Remove the crayon wrappers
Did you round up a lot of crayons? Now it’s time to remove the wrappers from all the crayons.
My kids love using their fingers but if you want the job done faster, dump the crayons in the bowl of warm water to soak the wrappers off.
3. Place crayons into molds
Place crayons inside the molds. Do you want to group them into piles of similar colors?
You might need to break some bigger pieces to make them fit, but don’t worry about the space between the pieces. As the crayons melt, we will be adding more.
4. Melt the crayons in the oven
Place the molds in the oven for 5-7 minutes. You might want to use a cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil to make it easier to pop molds in and out of the oven. I splashed melted crayons inside the oven in the past, and the cleaning was not fun.
The time depends on your oven and how many times you open it. Once the first bits begin to melt, you can add more broken crayons.
Once all the crayons are melted into a uniform mass (should be another 5-7 minutes), take them out, and let them harden.
Important note:
Let’s get to this super cool thing that turns crayon LEGO into super LEGO!
It’s called stackability… For my kids, this is the number one requirement because they want their DIY LEGO to be used for actually building things.
Once you take your melted crayons out of the oven, add another mold on top and weigh it down with rocks.
Let melted crayons harden.
Another important note!
Do you see how the edges of our LEGO blocks are not straight? It’s easily fixed with a butter knife! If you want your LEGO pieces to look 100% even, just hold the piece flat and gently scrape the unevenness away.
Three things you can do with this project:
- Play! What can you build with your stackable crayon LEGO pieces?
- Color! We have a bunch of LEGO coloring pages for you to download for FREE.
- Learn! Below you can download FREE lesson plans to turn this project into an exciting learning experience.
The Science of Melted Crayons (2 Lesson Plans)
If you want to turn crayon-melting fun into a science lesson, here’s a plan. In addition to the crayons and molds, you will also need a pocket mirror and a science printable (you can find it in the Kid Minds library of resources).
There are two ways you can focus the lesson:
- The essence of heat transfer. Your hypothesis might be: The bottom crayons are going to melt faster than the top crayons.
- The role of color pigments in the melting process. Your hypothesis might be: Different crayon colors come from different pigments, and they will melt at a different rate.
For option #1:
1. Start by explaining that
- Crayons are made of wax that will melt when hot.
- Ovens use air to transfer heat.
- The outside of the crayons comes in the most direct contact with the heat of the oven.
2. Brainstorm potential hypotheses
As your brainstorm different ideas, write them all down. We have a super cool Hypothesis worksheet included in our FREE STEM Basics kit.
3. Melt the crayons for about 5 minutes
Or even less. Make sure not to melt the crayons completely. You want to see which parts are not melted at this point. Check if the findings support or refute your hypothesis.
4. Fill out the recording sheet
For option #2:
1. Start by explaining that
- Crayon colors come from a variety of color pigments, some of them are natural, and some are man-made.
- Ovens use air to transfer heat. As time goes on, the ingredients in the crayons reach their melting points. But do all pigments that form crayon colors react to heat at the same rate?
2. Brainstorm potential hypotheses
And write them down on the sheet.
3. Melt the crayons for about 5 minutes
Make sure not to melt the crayons completely, you want to see which parts are not melted at this point. Check if the findings support or refute your hypothesis. You might want to poke some crayons with a popsicle stick to see how melted they are at the bottom.
4. Fill out the record sheet
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