The Gunny Sack

Earth Day Activities: Earth Crayons & Play Dough

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These Earth Day Activities for earth crayons and homemade play dough are fun to make with kids. The Earth crayons and blue and green play dough can be given as gifts to classmates or made in elementary school classrooms. Bonus points if you can reuse old crayons to make new ones!

earth crayons and play dough

These Earth Day Activities can be made with kids or if you are like me, they can be made by adults and given to the kids in their lives. Every kid seems to love crayons and play dough. And when they can help make them, that is even better!

I showed the earth crayons to my husband and asked him what they looked like. He said they look like bottlecaps. I asked him to guess again and he said, “Earth?”

When I told him yes, he said, “They aren’t the right shape.” So, if you are like my husband and can’t look at a circle and imagine a sphere, just bear with me on this one and pretend they look like earth crayons!

Disclaimer: This post contains links to products for making this recipe. If you use those links, I may earn a commission. Learn more here.

How To Make Earth Crayons

Every year, my kids bring home their leftover crayons from school. The older they get the less they use crayons so many of them are still in great condition.

We put them all in a box and their little cousins use the crayons when they come over and we use them to make new crayons.

How To Make Crayons

Step One:

Preheat the oven to 250°F. Peel the wrapper off of blue, white and green crayons.

We love Crayola crayons so that is what I used to make these.

Crayon Bits In Muffin Tin

Step Two:

Break or cut the crayons into small pieces.

Start by putting a few white pieces in the bottom of a muffin tin. Top the white pieces with the green and blue pieces.

The more crayon pieces you add, the thicker they crayons will be.

Earth crayons

Step Three:

Bake them at 250°F for 15-20 minutes, until the crayons are melted.

Carefully remove the muffin tin from the oven without mixing the colors. Allow the crayons to cool on the counter and then put them in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Remove the crayons from the fridge, turn the muffin tin upside down and give it a smack on the counter to pop the crayons out.

How To Make Play Dough

The recipe that I used for making the play dough is one that I received from my mother in law. She made this play dough for my oldest child when she was little and still makes it for her grandchildren today.

Play Dough Supplies:

Pot Of Dough Ingredients

Step One:

Put flour, water salt, cream of tartar, and canola oil in a saucepan.

Ball of Dough

Step Two:

Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly until a ball of dough forms.

Remove from heat and when the dough is cool enough to touch turn it out onto the counter and knead it until smooth.

Color Play Dough

Step Three:

Divide the dough into two pieces. Place the dough on a large piece of parchment paper to protect your counter.

Put several drops of food coloring on the dough and carefully knead it until the color is uniform. Add more food coloring if desired.

Homemade Playdoh

Step Four:

Divide the colored play dough into small pieces, roll them into balls and put them in small cellophane bags. Tie the bags closed with coordinating baker’s twine.

Earth Day Crafts For Kids

Play Dough Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup salt
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tbsp canola oil
  • 2 tsp cream of tartar
  • Food coloring

Instructions

  1. Mix flour, salt, water, canola oil and cream of tartar in a large saucepan.
  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until a ball of dough forms.
  3. Remove from heat and when the dough is cool enough to touch, knead until smooth.
  4. Divide the dough into the number of pieces needed for the desired colors.
  5. Add drops of food coloring to the dough and carefully knead until the color is uniform.
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size: 1 grams
Amount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g
© Tonia

 

 Here are a few more Earth Day Activities:

Earth Day Mason Jar

Earth Day Mason Jar

Earth Day Oreo Truffles

Earth Day Oreo Truffles

Comments

  3. Wenona says

    Hi Tonia,

    Thank you so much for the Earth crayons idea! I love it and know my students will too :).

    I am still looking for a perfect play dough recipe and want to try yours. For some reason I can’t see your play dough supplies list though (I am assuming it also includes measurements). Help?

    Reply

    • Tonia says

      Hello Wenona,
      I couldn’t find the recipe either! Something went wrong with the post but I was able to reinsert the recipe card. So you should be able to see it and print it now. Let me know if you can’t and I’ll email it to you.
      Thanks,
      ~Tonia

      Reply

  4. Ginni says

    I was wondering, I am in charge of earth day at my job.I would like to make the play dough with the kids. could i make the dough and let the kids put the food coloring in it the next day?

    Reply

    • Tonia says

      Hi Ginni,
      I’ve never tried adding the food coloring the following day but it should work. The only problem might be with the food coloring making a mess (staining hands, desks, and clothes) depending on what age the kids are. Maybe you could make the colored dough, dye it a deep color and give each child a piece of it to mix into their white dough. Or you could give them bits of blue, green and white dough to make a planet earth dough ball.
      Happy Earth Day!
      ~Tonia

      Reply

    • Jblanton says

      Instead of food coloring which WILL stain hands, this Elementary Science teacher uses packets of powdered cool-aid drink mix. Not only will the color not stain hands, but the clay will be scented too!

      Reply

  5. Tamiechia Denny-Frank says

    Hello I love this I’ll try with my students for an earth day project. I would like to know if I can line the baking pans with the cups this way I wouldn’t mess up my pans, evne tho the smooth edges look amazing?

    Reply

  6. Christy says

    My Girl Scout troop wants to out something homemade in the birthday party in a bag they are making for the kids at the battered women’s shelter. They love the play dough. What is the shelf life of the play dough?

    Reply

  8. Heather - Chickabug says

    Finally a use for those random crayons! Fantastic idea! Crayola should provide a link to this blog post on the back of every box they sell! : )

    Reply

  9. Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust says

    Such great ideas Tonia – I especially love the crayons. I’m allergic to playdough. 😉

    Reply

    • Tonia says

      Thanks Dorothy! You are? I’ve never even though about the possibility of someone being allergic to it! So sorry to hear that!

      Reply

    • Tonia says

      Thanks Vel! I gave some play dough and crayons to my nieces last night when they were over and they had fun with them!

      Reply

  13. Rhonda says

    Hey,,, I have not been reading my fav blogs lately. Our new baby seems to take all my time. I love this play dough recipe. My kids will play for hours with it….psst so do I. It is fun to be a kid again.

    Reply

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