Recycled Crayons

Asalaam ‘Alaikum:

Quite a few weeks ago we made some recycled crayons. First we needed to peel all the papers off the broken crayons. I already had purchased an old mini-muffin pan from the resale shop and filled them with the broken crayons (we have way too many around here). The smaller the pieces you make – the more colorful you make the crayons. We then turned on the oven to 250 degrees and waited for the crayons to melt. When they melted we took them out to cool. After cooling the crayons, we popped them out and had voila – new crayons.

I’ve actually seen this craft a couple of times on blogs this past week.

Muslim Learning Garden

Mad in Crafts

These blogs made me wish I had a fancy form pan too. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find one – I even drove all the way to the local Joanne’s store to find one and they didn’t have any. Well, while we continue to search for a cheap silicon mold – we will keep making them our way.

Now, the amazing thing about this craft was the fact that the kids were so excited and wanted to go visit all their friends to give them a crayon they made by themselves. Now, you must know that my girls have “friends” everywhere they go – the dentist, the doctor’s office, the library, the local women’s gym – to name a few. All week long they brought along with them a baggie filled with these crayons. You cannot image the delight of many of their adult friends at the library, etc. They actually gladly took a sample and asked for directions on how to make their own – some of them even had kids and were going to give it to them as a surprise. You cannot imagine how happy my girls have been about this, masha’Allah.

Tonight a friend and her family are coming over for dinner. So yesterday we made this batch. We then put a few in a baggie tied with a ribbon to give as a gift for her son. The girls can’t wait to give it to him, masha’Allah. Here is a picture of the crayons in their package (their shape kinda reminds me of Reeses peanut butter cups.)

Well, I hope you take time to sit down and do this with your kiddos – and if you don’t do this particular project, perhaps you can do some other craft. I would encourage you to get them to give away their creations – you cannot imagine how good it makes them feel to share (masha’Allah). If you do take this “challenge” – please let me know what you did – and how it went, insha’Allah.

Asalaam ‘Alaikum,

Sumayyah Umm SAA