2012 Summer Unplugged - Crayon Recycling

I will be honest, I started teaching my son for no other reason than to keep him from watching T.V. all day (and these days playing computer games).  Quickly, I learned that in teaching him we were establishing a relationship of trust.  When we do not spend our time learning, and going on outings, the kids quickly revert back to begging me for T.V. and computer time.  So I guess I am going to have to start coming up with summer activities again.  The summer of 2010, we learned to make new and interesting kids snacks.  Last summer we made home made summer things like kites and such.  I think this summer we will explore nature.

This week I needed to keep my bored kids busy.  Maybe I am keeping myself busy too. So here is one of the things we did:

Crayon Recycling

Step One: Sort the crayons into a muffin pan.  My kids did not want to make multicolor crayons. They wanted to anally sort into colors.  I guess they take after mommy. 
 Our 20 month old just helped break the crayons more.  That's her job.  She's the reason there are so many broken crayons.

Step Two: Remove the paper from the crayons.  This step took over an hour.  The kids helped a little while, then they got frustrated and disappeared.  
Then mommy and daddy worked as a team removing paper.  This gave us a chance to talk sans children.  Sometimes it's nice to have a real adult conversation.

Step Three: Grease the pan and melt the crayons in the oven at 300 F for 10-12 minutes.  Cool until firm.  Then put them in the freezer for an hour, so they slide right out of the pan.

This entire box was filled with broken crayons.  I cannot believe we had so many.

Step Four: Enjoy coloring with crazy big crayons on big paper.