This month we are focusing on the end of the school year and what to do to keep the kids in your life busy and how to manage some of the materials that may be associated with the transition from the school year to summer. This week’s project does both! Broken crayons can be used to make a variety of projects. A quick search on Google or Pinterest will produce a plethora of projects to use up all of those broken crayons you aren’t sure what to do with.

1. One of the easiest is to place a liner in a muffin tin, put pieces of broken crayon in, and melt in the oven. You can create new crayons in a variety of rainbow hues. If you have other molds, you can make a variety of shapes too. 
2. You can also heat smooth or flat rocks in the oven (or in the sun on a really hot day) and melt the broken crayons on the rocks to make interesting patterns.
3. Crayons can also be used to make candles, colored lip balms, to color play dough or salt dough, and so much more. The possibilities are endless. You can keep crayons out of the landfill and create something beautiful, while keeping a child in your life (or yourself!) entertained.

Have a bunch of broken crayons left over after doing a craft? You can recycle crayons through the National Crayon Recycle Program. Check out their website for all of the details: https://nationalcrayonrecycleprogram.org/. The program is free, but you must pay shipping. All of the crayons received are recycled into new crayons and provided to children in need.