Recycled wax crayons

All ready for the oven

In a couple of weeks, I'm planning to do wax crayon rubbings with the nursery children. I spoke to the nursery staff and they said that the children don't seem to have the strength to push the crayon down hard enough to make a decent rubbing. I was a bit disappointed, but then I remembered something that might be a solution to this problem. A while back, I made some recycled wax crayons with the girls. I think the idea came from a book, but I can't remember where I saw it.

Method

Straight out of the oven, all melted

Get lots of bits of wax crayons. Tear off any paper that might still be attached and break up longer crayons into pieces a couple of cm long.
Place the pieces in an old bun tin.
Put the tin in the oven at 120c for about 1/2 hour, or until all the bits of crayon have liquefied.
Carefully take the tray out of the oven and leave to cool.
Once cooled, place it either in the fridge, freezer on into a bath of very cold water.
Lots of loud cracking noises will ensue, as the crayons shrink from the sides of the tin.
Bang the tin upside down on the worktop and all the crayons should fall out, ready to use.

The finished crayon can be held in a child's palm, so they can use all their weight to press down on it.