Star-shaped Crayons :: a tutorial

I had a thought last Spring that I would love to use all the broken crayons in my room and repurpose them into something fun for my students.  I saw the images of heart-shaped crayon valentines floating around Pinterest and knew that I could do something similar with stars that could be a really fun gift to give my new crew this year.  It really was so easy, and very fun!   

I ordered this star-shaped silicone mold from Amazon and it worked awesome!

I started with this tub of broken, peeled crayons.

For each new, star-shaped crayon, I chose which colors I wanted to use.  I tried to stay in the same color "family" for most of them, but a few I just threw in a random combination of colors.  Both ways seemed to work fine!  I chopped them into small pieces on a paper towel.

And then I filled the molds about half full.

I popped them into my oven which was preheated to 300 degrees.  I covered a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and them placed the silicone mold on top of that.  It provided a nice, firm surface for when I removed the melted crayons from the oven.  Most of the batches were in the oven for 8-10 minutes, but I just kept an eye on them and watched for when the crayons were completely (or almost completely) melted.

I let the hot, melted crayons sit on the counter for about 5 minutes before sticking them in the fridge to harden.  I left them in the fridge for an hour or so and then I took them out and carefully pulled the sides of the mold away from the crayons and popped them out.  Every one came out perfectly!  

So, so fun!!  My kids couldn't wait to check out each new batch.  No two crayons were exactly alike!

I set them out at my Open House had the students choose one to put in their pencil boxes as part of the scavenger hunt they did in the classroom that night.

I made this sign to put by the crayons.

It has been so much fun watching my students use these crayons at school during the first weeks!  They are big and chunky and will last forever!

This really was a super fun, inexpensive, and EASY thing to do!  Pretty sure I'll be doing it again and again...I want to check out different shapes too! :)