[freshfoodie]

One of my earliest memories is making candles out of broken crayons and empty oatmeal containers as a mold with one of my babysitters. I was pretty young but does this actually work?

[wildcherry]

Crayons is excellent for making candles since they are wax based. It is a great way to recycle all those broken crayons and nubs, too! The only thing I'm not sure of is the oatmeal carton.

[SoftRain]

The oatmeal carton would probably work since the temperature to melt crayons isn't very high. This is particularly fun to do with crayons that have swirled colors. I don't know if the fumes are safe though.

[Paisley]

While we haven't made candles out of old crayons, we have tried one of those kits where you melt the crayons and make new crayons out of the old ones. The kids enjoyed the process. They learned some things about color mixing, too.

[kyleesmommy09]

That sounds really fun! I think my daughter would really like to try that. So you use old crayons and melt them down and then put it in a container with a wick? When you say oatmeal containers you mean the huge ones? I know at Michael's they have a candle making kit for kids I wanted to try out but I might try this instead.

[BrittneyD]

We used to have a candle shop in town that would make regular candles with the children. She had a wax that did not require high heat in order to melt. My kids had a ball making them with her, but she closed down before I could ask her what kind of wax it was. Crayons seem safe enough to use with children. I am just wondering if you could add any scents to them. My children would want to burn the candles, but I don't think crayon scent would be too pleasing.

[konstantina]

It is a very nice activity to do with children because it is creative and it teaches them that you can make products yourself and not depend on stores all the time. I believe this is a good lesson, they learn to be self sufficient. You don't have to go to a lot of trouble, you can use old candles and make colored new ones.

[racechick79]

Wow, I learned a lot with this thread! I think this is something i might be trying with my children very soon. My husband is an art teacher, so he knows a lot of the high tech ways to do things, but I am always looking for the more grass roots approach to doing it! Thanks for posting!

[shaunche]

Originally Posted by freshfoodie

One of my earliest memories is making candles out of broken crayons and empty oatmeal containers as a mold with one of my babysitters. I was pretty young but does this actually work?

Yes it does! Melting down crayons will form candles because crayons are made out of wax. The best containers a metal molds, I don't know what your oatmeal containers were made.

[meowcow]

I've never done this but the concept sounds like it should work. Crayons are made out of wax after all. It would be pretty cool when you are done with the project and you can use the candle to write as well lol. Thanks for sharing, I will be looking more into this now.