Crayola Make Your Own Crayons

[lovintennessee]

Does anyone have this machine? Looks like fun for my kids for $20 and would be a great gift from Santa.

 

[mward73]

I don't have it, but was also looking at it - it looks pretty cool. Our Target had it on clearance for 30% off a few weeks ago. I was waiting until it went to 75% off (they had a ton of them), but then I forgot all about it. Now I'm wondering if they're still there. Anyway, check Target if you have one - you might find them for less there.

 

[eeyorethegreat]

save your $20 they don't work well it takes much longer to melt the crayons than the timer allows which means you have to set the time 2 or three times by then the kids loose interest.
Great idea in premise not so much in practice.

 

[Blue.Fairy2]

save your $20 they don't work well it takes much longer to melt the crayons than the timer allows which means you have to set the time 2 or three times by then the kids loose interest.
Great idea in premise not so much in practice.

Agreed we have one and only used it once and it has been sitting in the closet ever since that was probably 8 years ago....

 

[lovintennessee]

Thanks!! My daughter loves arts and crafts. Any suggestions on cool gifts? I went and bought her the candy ring maker and she already has the pixo machine.

 

[BoogasMom]

I bought it just today for DS who is 6 and loves arts and crafts. I think he will like it. They had them the other night on the show on TLC Table for 12 and the kids on that show seemed to like it. Seems like they have improved on it over the one that a PP talked of that they had 8 years ago. Time will tell.

 

[Starbrite]

DD8 really wants this too! Hopefully they have improved it over the years.

 

[Colleen27]

We had one years ago that took way too long to heat up. DD & I ended up just picking up a double boiler at a thrift shop and using cheap candy molds to make fun shaped crayons out of her stubs instead.

 

[BoogasMom]

We had one years ago that took way too long to heat up. DD & I ended up just picking up a double boiler at a thrift shop and using cheap candy molds to make fun shaped crayons out of her stubs instead.

That's a good idea and one I would've never thought of myself. I will keep that in mind if DS doesn't like the crayon maker.

 

[deva]

I was going to order, but it go horrible reviews at Amazon. Exactly as others mentioned - too long to melt, takes forever, etc. etc.

 

[cnlmom]

Luckly I picked up one at a thrift store for a buck last year....was only worth what I paid for it. Kids were frusterated as it took forever to melt and the colors they have on the box and in the manual do NOT look like that in real life. They kinda blended together into a brownish/black.
We ened up googling how to make crayons and melted some in mini muffin tins in the oven. They came out better.
It now lives in my basement collecting dust. Guess I need to send it back to the thrift store.

 

[IDoDis]

We had one a few years back. The kids never used it even though DS's favorite book used to be "How a Crayon is Made." I had to get a special light bulb which held us up. When we finally did make some crayons, it didn't melt very well. That was the one and only time we used the kit.

 

[santa's surpriz]

It's a great prodct idea in theory...I actually showed this to my daughter and explained what it did and how we could re-use old & broken crayons. Her response was pretty excited, then she asked if she could break good crayons to use in it. suddenly nixed the idea.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

We didn't have much success with it either. It went in a yard sale last summer.

We do it the old fashioned way. I take a baking sheet and put small cookie cuts down, filled with broken crayons. We put a paver brick on top. Lay out in the sun.....new, fun shaped crayons. (summertime of course)

 

[Starbrite]

Since all the reviews are so disappointing - can I get some helpful tips on making our own?

How long do they take to "cook" in the oven?

 

[CarlisleMom]

We had one years ago that took way too long to heat up. DD & I ended up just picking up a double boiler at a thrift shop and using cheap candy molds to make fun shaped crayons out of her stubs instead.

I would love to do this with DD8. How long does it take for the melts to harden? Do you place in refrig? Can you melt one color, let harden then melt another and place on top of first to make multi colored?

Thank you to anyone who can help with directions.

 

[DebMcDonald]

I've melted crayons before in a cupcake tin and the kids had fun with them, but they wern't great like they show on TV. We took all our broken crayons and just placed them in. I don't remember the temperature I used, but it didn't take long and I did put them in the fridge to harden faster. I assume you could do the same rolling tin foil with the bits inside and maybe it would be more crayon like.

 

[talulabelle]

We have this and my son loves it! It only works though if you are melting Crayola brand crayons in it. If you have old RoseArt crayons or other brands, the wax is different in the crayon and it will take forever for them to melt if they melt at all. The timer and the heat are set to work with the wax in Crayola brand crayons only. Ours works every time. If you are looking to make crayons that look like the brand new ones out of the box, you are going to be a little disapointed. But my 5 year old loves using it so much that he tells his kindergarten teacher to save the tiny bits for him so that he can make new crayons out of them. He makes so many, he gives most of them to friends and takes some back to his teacher (I don't know if she actually uses them). He even has our neighbor who is a teacher giving him her broken crayons. He sits for over an hour at a time peeling and melting. I don't love the little bits of paper he leaves all over the kitchen counter, but it keeps him occupied. He does tire of it, like everything else and it may sit on the closet shelve for a few months, but then he gets a new batch of broken crayons and back out it comes.