Heyyy friends!
Valentine’s Day is only NINE Days away… and I have zero plans! Today I am sharing DIY Valentine’s Day Gifts for your toddler and their classmates made out of old crayons. I love using things I already own and giving them new life – I basically have a love affair with painting and upcycling things like nightstands, old furniture, and even pantry staples. I love me a good DIY, and that’s always been the case.
What’s a good Valentine’s Day Gift for Toddlers?
Here is what inspired these DIY Valentine’s Day Gifts – since Liyana started Montessori last August, we have received goodie bag after goodie bag for birthdays and every hallmark holiday under the sun. I am the mom that never seems to be able to make it to the craft store, let alone put together 24 of whatever gift I should be sending for the other kids in her class. So, here I am PLANNING ahead, but also trying to not be wasteful in what I buy. Often the goodie bags are plastic, filled with more plastic toys and STUFF that eventually ends up broken and in the garbage. Which is too bad because I know that a lot of thought (and time) goes into them! So, I started thinking about what I have at home that we could upcycle into a useful gift. I stumbled on a huge box of old broken crayons and it came to me!
How to Upcycle Crayons into a Valentine’s Day Gift
We are going to make adorable DIY Toddler Valentine’s Day Gifts out of all the broken crayons using silicone molds and/or ice cube trays. Mine are from Ikea, but you can also find these on amazon or even at your local Dollarama.
The first step in making these DIY Toddler Valentines’ Day Gifts is going to require some exercise! To start, dash around your house and collect all those broken crayons.
Next, put your toddler to work and get them to peel all the paper off the crayons and break them up into little pieces. Liyana was so happy to be doing this – she calls it “crapping up the crayons”. I helped her along the way by using a utility knife to cut a slit in the crayon wrapper. I am not kidding, but Liyana was happily occupied “crapping up crayons” for an hour! I call that a mom WIN! These DIY Valentines’ Day Gift for toddlers can also be used for any other event like a birthday party favour, Eid, Ramadan – you name it. ANOTHER WIN in my books!
Now, we are going to take the broken pieces, and put them in our silicone trays, set them on a flat baking sheet, and pop them into an oven preheated to 250 F, for about 15-20 minutes. Keep an eye on them as they could bubble over. I kept my molds half full and that seemed to work well.
Next, take them out of the oven carefully and let them cool. Since its the middle of winter, I stuck the tray outside for 15-20 minutes and the wax cooled fast. Thanks Canada!
Finally, carefully pop them out and put them in a cute cloth or paper bag from your local dollar store or craft store and call it a day!
Now tell me, do you have old crayons lying around that you could upcycle into these super cute crayons?!
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Such a fun activity and a great way to upcycle!
totally!!
Wow .. you just made my day! I was just thinking about what to do for Valentine’s Day as I was reading through the teachers notes. Thank you so much !! You make life easier for lazy moms like me ❤️❤️❤️????????
anytime! do share if you try it out!
OMG this is so creative and amazing!! ????
thank you!!
I love this idea! So creative & I’m all for the recycling & repurposing.
yes!! less waste!
I luv this ???? idea
thankss!!1
This is so creative and looks like so much fun. Would love to make this with my child.
Omg what an awesome idea! I was decluttering my son’s room and was left with so many small crayons. Now I know just what activity to do with him. Thanks!
Wow awesome idea. Love it.
My daughter used to love peeling crayons when she was 2. I wish I had known of this then, we had buckets full of crayons
This looks so cute and so simple!! My daughter is obsessed with peeling crayons so she would love the first step of this diy! Thanks for sharing, will definitely be doing this with the kids soon!
Such a great DIY! The kids would love it! ????
Love this!!!!
Ooh I love it ????
It’s super creative! Loved the idea! Don’t have kids right now but will for sure go back to your blog in future for some kickass ideas ! ????
Love this diy! So many possibilities with the silicone molds and their shapes. JazakAllah khair for sharing! ♡
Made these during the long weekend. My son enjoyed it so much and I was just as excited to watch them come out the oven. He’s been using them non stop!
What a great acitivity! Mine loveess to peel crayons and break them instead of using them! She’s going to love this! They turn out beautiful! Thanks for sharing