I'm a Genius

Okay, I'm not really a genius but I had one of those rare moments yesterday when a good idea popped in my head and, when executed, turned out just as good as I had imagined.

We have TONS of crayons. Really. Tons of them. As any parent knows you never have one complete set of crayons. You have a smorgasboard of perfect crayons, crayon pieces, crayons with or without paper, just the pointy tip of the crayon, taped crayons, and the like. In our house, the mish-mash lived in a large ziploc baggie. As I unpacked the ugliness that is the crayon bag I thought of going through it and throwing away all the broken pieces. But instead, the kids and I did this:

I know I'm not the first person in the world to do this, but I am pretty excited that I even thought to do it. First, I sprayed my mini muffin tin with Pam, then let the kiddos put crayon pieces in each compartment.

Then, I cooked it in a 350 oven for just a few minutes. Really, I couldn't tell you how long but I just kept an eye on it. Actually, the kids kept an eye on it and told me when everything looked all "melty."

Then, I stuck the tray on the counter to cool. But when that took too long I popped that baby in the freezer and within a few minutes...

VIOLA!!! They came out of the tin soooo easily and left very little residue so it was easy to clean off. I should have taken pics of the kids coloring with them, but alas, I did not. But I will tell you they L-O-V-E-D their new crayons. Ava told me several times they were the best crayons EVER. She especially enjoyed writing her name and seeing it in a rainbow of colors. Jax preferred the stick-it-on-the-flat-side-and-color-as-fast-as-I-can method. We have several pages of a Thomas coloring book that are full of Jax's very colorful artwork.

Love this little project. So fun and so resourceful.