Crayon Melting Machine

Mix and Match Broken Bits

Sick of crayon bits floating around your art supplies, or worse, your household? Do your kids refuse to use a crayon once it loses its pristine newness? Maybe you also have a kid with a habit of peeling the paper off every crayon. If you need a way to put crayon crumbs to good use, look no further than the Crayola Melt ‘N Mold Factory.

At our house, crayons multiply like bunnies. This machine takes broken bits of crayons and turns them into, well, other crayons. That might not sound too exciting, but it’s actually magical. It can get even the pickiest kid to use crayon bits that would otherwise go to waste or clutter up the art drawer. Plus, kids love using the machine, and it keeps them entertained and involved in the process of reusing and recycling the crayon pieces, or even entire spare crayons.

You can buy a variety of mold expansion packs separately to create new shapes. We have rings, race cars, spinners, and even one that makes multi color crayons. Each mold makes two shapes, and requires roughly three crayons worth of pieces to fill the mold. Kids put the crayons in, close the lid which then locks, and turn it on. A twist of the dial and the melting fun begins in the metal tray underneath the clear plastic top. Once the dial reaches the halfway point marked, kids can use the second switch to dump the hot wax into the molds. The lid stays locked until everything cools enough to be safe for touching, though you may still want to wait a few extra minutes after extracting the molds to pop out any creations.

The only downside? Cleaning the tray between uses can be a royal pain. You can try and wipe it clean with warm wax, but remember the lid stays locked until everything can be touched. Once it dries, you have to scrape the melted wax off. I find this task easier to do with a plastic kitchen utensil or other tool. On the bright side, if you don’t mind mixing colors, you don’t have to clean the tray between uses until the wax builds up enough to prevent melting. Create new fun colors swirled together and watch what happens when you use them.

These small crayons can actually color, making them excellent gifts for friends, relatives, and just about any occasion. They look great in Valentines and as favors at parties, and will make any gift wrapping extra special by using these unique homemade crayons in lieu of bows. Want an affordable gift idea? Grab a coloring book in a favorite theme and add these colorful crayons to complement the theme.