Have you drawn and colored many things, or maybe your kids do all the coloring, and now somewhere in your home, you have a box of half-used, broken crayons and dried-out markers just taking up space.
If what’s on your mind is to just throw it all away – then wait a minute ✋
You can still use all that junk for something useful or even fun. So go ahead and scroll down, because I’ll be showing you 12 things you can do with your old markers and crayons.
Starting With Crayons!!
I find it hard to believe that you can have kids and NOT have your home littered with crayons. Broken crayons are bound to pile up when there is a kid in the house.
But let’s jump into what you can do with all that crayon.
#1 Make more crayons!!
Take a break from buying brand new crayons and recycle your old ones. You can make a whole new bunch by simply recycling.
This is really easy. All you do is melt the crayons, pour them into a silicone mold, let them dry, and voila! A new set of crayons.
There are all sorts of crayon shapes you could create and that’s all dependent on the silicone mold you use.
These guys at thatbricklife got a hold of a LEGO mold and they made a cool set of LEGO crayons. Which kid wouldn’t want that?
It’s easier said than done. But not to worry, this article by Little bins for little hands gives a step-by-step process for getting started.
#2 Crayon Jewelry
Pendant necklaces, rings, earrings, you name it, you can use a crayon to make it. By melting these crayons, you can make colorful pendants and rings.
These marble-looking jewelry are sweet gifts for a friend, a loved one, or just for you.
And if you play your cards right, you could even start a business selling this stuff off your old crayons!
You can easily make these by following the steps here at Melted Crayon Art Jewelry.
#3 Stone Painting
Ever heard of stone painting? It’s as simple as it sounds: painting stones.
Painted stones can be aesthetic home decor. They can decorate your garden, hallway, or living room. As I see it, painted stones give this: ”The owner of this home is artistic” vibe.
Rather than using new paints and colors for stone painting, your old crayons can do the job, and you don’t have to melt them as mentioned in many of the other tips!
In this case, you only heat the stones and do your magic by coloring the stones with the crayons. The heat from stones melts the crayons and forms a pretty color display. 5-minute crafts do a great job in this video below showing how they stone paint with crayons.
#4 Wall Art
Don’t own any artworks on your walls? Well, that’s about to change. Those old crayons are a color palette waiting to be used.
Check it out on YouTube, there are lots of videos of people melting their crayons to form a rainbow dripping artwork.
All you need are your crayons and a simple hairdryer. Use the hairdryer to melt the crayons to make a vibrant colored artwork. It doesn’t have to be dripping all the way down as most people do theirs.
You can get creative like My Modern Met in their video below and do something different. But if you think it’s cliche, you can try our next option.
#5 Crayon Mosaic
Making a picture mosaic is probably one of the commonest ways to recycle or reuse a lot of things and crayons don’t escape it either.
Bring out all your crayon junk and sort them all by color (kind of like making a giant color palette).
And with a picture reference, arrange those crayons to make a giant color mosaic. Art of the Jets makes a lot of these as a Visual Arts project.
#6 Crayon sculptures
By now, you should have noticed that most of the stuff listed here involves melting crayons. This however does not.
In this case, you carve crayons until you make an image. Crayon sculptures almost look like miniature Tiki statues.
It sounds like an ideal use of crayons for woodcarvers, sculptors, or anyone trying something they haven’t done before.
#7 Crayon candles
Do you know one thing crayons share with candles? Wax! This makes them distant cousins.
You can make colorful candlelights by melting crayons in a cup and sticking a wick in there.
Another DIY home decor idea that’s simple to make! There’s an easy-to-follow process for making crayon candles at Brit.co. Do well to check it out and start creating.
#8 A Playdough of crayons
Kids love playdough. It’s squishy, mushy, and fun to play with. And if you’re a parent, this is a good chance to make color playful playdough.
Keep your food coloring aside and use your old crayons as a coloring substitute. Little bins for little hands give us a Crayon Playdough recipe.
Now Markers!!
You now know 8 things you can do with old crayons but what about markers? You can’t melt markers and turn them into anything that resembles a mold. But you can do these;
#1 Get Ink Refills
Many markers can be refilled. If you are not sure if your brand has refills, hop on Google and find out. If they do, then you just got yourself a lifetime supply of markers.
All that’s left is to go buy refills, ink your marker up (obviously by following the refilling instructions), and boom! Your markers are as good as new!
No point stressing over buying a new set of markers or what to do with the old ones. Sadly, not all markers are refillable. If you fall in this category, I got a few more options for your below.
Note: You can learn more about the great refillable markers Copic Sketch and Copic Ciao here.
#2 Make marker paint
Those markers may be dried out but they still have a little pigment hiding somewhere. Making marker paint draws it all out.
All you have to do is soak those markers in jars of water for at least 24 hours. It’s best if you leave them in for days. The longer they soak, the more vibrant your marker paint will be.
When you’ve soaked enough, you have a jar of market paint at your disposal. It’s pretty much like watercolor hence a great tool for painting.
#3 Markers x Crafting
Time to get your recycle groove on. Old markers are great ingredients for a homemade craft project. And there are tons of crafting ideas out there.
You can make a bracelet, a jump rope, or even a marker chandelier! For less complicated crafting, Craft gallery makes a flower vase, a fancy home ornament, and a cute box out of marker pens.
#4 Crayola’s Colorcycle program
If you still have no idea what to do with these markers, you can always sign up for Crayola’s ColorCycle program.
ColorCycle takes the markers you donate and converts them to energy. You can give any kind of markers and even highlighters and it doesn’t have to be a Crayola brand.
By partnering with the Colorcycle, you not only get rid of those markers but you’ll be helping our planet. Go Team Green!
However I will warn you, you’ll have to give an ENORMOUS amount of markers. If you don’t have that amount, I highly recommend partnering with a school.
Conclusion
This is the end of the list. If you got old crayons and markers lying around, then there is absolutely something you can try out!
If you have some ideas of your own not mentioned in this list, then please let me know in the comments section below 🙂
