If your kids have been doing any amount of drawing, you're bound to have bits & pieces of broken crayons.  Here's a project your kids will have fun doing (with your help) that will recycle those crayon pieces.

Get a candy mold from the craft store. This is going to be the mold for your new set of crayons. Stars or hearts or anything with a point will be a good choice, as they will be more user-friendly to draw with.

Collect bits of crayons, or break crayons into small pieces.  Choose colors that you think will work when blended together (it's really up to you).  Put the bits into an old baby food jar or other glass jar (something that you don't need, because you don't want to have to wash out the residue later).  Then, put the jar in the microwave.  Heat it in 30 second segments and watch it melt.  The melting time will depend on how much crayon you are using, so just keep watching and reheating until the crayons are melted. 

Be careful removing the jar from the microwave (obviously this part is only for adults).  Pour into the candy molds.

Then, put the mold in the refrigerator (or you can leave it out--it will just take longer) until it hardens.  Once hardened, you can just pop your shaplier new crayons out of the molds, and your kids can start drawing.

Note:  These make a nice addition to a birthday party favor bag.

Here's a good way to use the extra buttons...a collage project.  Buttons are colorful and can come in great shapes and sizes that seem to interest kids.  Have your kids to pick out some buttons and ask them to think about what they might look like?  What would the holes be?  What if you could draw a scene around the button--then what would it be?  Let them think about where the button might live or what might be around it, and then create this scene by gluing it onto paper and using crayons, markers, even sequins or other found objects to add to the possibilities.  Maybe a red button will turn into a ladybug.  Maybe four buttons become wheels of a car.  Two holes on a button might make perfect eyes on a face...who knows?  Let your kids decide for themsleves and have fun building their button collage.

Check out this great button collage by artists Lisa Kokin.  Ask your kids to make a self-portrait using buttons and sequins or other materials.  Let them think about how these materials can fit together to make the features of their face.

Cereal boxes, snack boxes, and other cardboard packaging are often very colorful with great lettering and fun pictures.  This is the perfect material for a collage project for kids who are scissors-savvy enough to cut thicker cardboard.  For smaller kids, you can help them with the cutting, or use thinner paper like magazines and catalogs which also offer a lot of color and variety in their graphic images.  As your children cut out images and shapes, ask them to think about them--"What does this look like? What could this become?"  Maybe they'll create houses from waffle images or facial features from cereal pictures.  Give them the option of using craft-store glue-on eyes and see what kind of packaged faces your kids can create.

Check out the collages of Henri Matisse and Romare Bearden.

Now it's really true that you and the kids can make your own gift wrap (and still have the gifts look nice).  Your gift recipients will love the personalized and eco-friendly touch.

The New Gift Bags:  Kids will love to decorate and give these gift "bags" and you'll feel good about recycling and saving money.  You'll need:  a cereal box, cracker box, or any such box that is the right size for your gift; scissors, a glue stick, paper (construction paper or whatever you like), cotton balls, a hole-punch, and ribbon or yarn.

Cut the top flaps off the box.  Now you or your child can cover the entire box with paper.  You decide how exacting you'd like to be about this step. Kids will enjoy taking a collage approach to covering the box, but if you are more interested in a tidy look, you can cut the paper to fit, and help the kids attach it.  Either way, let the kids cover the box with a glue stick before you apply the paper.  Fold the paper over the top edge of the box at the opening and glue around the inside rim for a finished look.

Now punch two holes near the top of each long side.  Tie the ribbon or yarn through the holes to make handles for your gift bag.

Kids can glue cotton balls all along the top edge of the bag.

Once the kids are happy with what they've done, they can decorate with crayons, stamps or whatever else they can imagine.  Consider writing a note right on the bag itself, and you won't even need a gift tag or card.

Options: For a more sophisticated look, you can use white pom poms instead of cotton balls.  Or try covering the box with felt instead of paper, then decorating with buttons and sequins.  Use tissue paper inside as you would with a traditional gift bag, and you've got a very professionally wrapped gift!

Happy New Year, everyone.  You've all made resolutions to make more crafts with your kids, right?  To be more artistic, help the kids stretch their imaginations, and just spend more quality time with the family, right? 

The Craft Playground is here to help you.  Ideas and projects for encouraging arts & crafts with kids are here, using simple, low or no cost materials.  And the only thing required of you is the willingness to give it a try.

All the projects have just been re-organized into a blog format that will enable you to more easily find the projects that suit your needs.  They also allow you to make comments on individual crafts.  So please feel free to comment, and take a look at other viewers thoughts on the projects.

Please also keep checking in with my regular blog--Think Artfully!  Here I'll try to provide you with some thoughts on stretching your kids' imagination, and injecting art into their daily life.

Have a peaceful and artful new year.