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CRAYOLA | Home » » CRAYOLA CAYON MAKER | | | | | | | Description: | | Turn crayon bits and pieces into new color-swirl creations! Mix, melt, mold and harden your choice of colors into one of a kind crayons. Includes mini crayo n mold, 1 Crayon mold frame, 8 unlabeled crayons, and 2 crayon couplers. | | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 8.38 inches | | Product Width:
| 9.38 inches | | Product Height:
| 9.0 inches | | Package Length:
| 9.3 inches | | Package Width:
| 9.0 inches | | Package Height:
| 8.0 inches | | Package Weight:
| 2.9 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 88 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 88 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
159 of 164 found the following review helpful:
 Leaves a lot to be desiredSep 29, 2011
By Debra
This toy has a great concept, but that's about it. You load broken crayons into the top two trays and set a timer, which turns on the lightbulb for about 10 minutes until the crayons are melted. Then you have to manually turn another knob, which pours them into the molds. The lid stays locked for another 15 minutes until the crayons are cool.
I had several major frustrations with the design. First, the self locking mechanism is enough to make you want to pull your hair out. If you start the timer at all, the lid locks until it's done running - about 25 minutes. If there's a problem (e.g. you forgot some crayon pieces, the light bulb isn't screwed in all the way, your child turns the knob because they think it's fun, etc.) then you're stuck waiting for 25 minutes. I tried running it with the lid open, but the designers must have thought of that because it won't run. You also can't skip the timer forward at all. I know it's a safety feature, but children young enough to get burned shouldn't be using it without supervision anyway.
It's also annoying to have to babysit the thing. You have to really pay attention to when the light bulb turns off (it doesn't ring a bell or anything) or else the crayons will harden in the tray instead of in the mold. There's nothing automatic about it except for the light turning off.
Another major frustration is that the mold is only about the size of 1/2 a crayon (it has four slots). They include plastic joiners so you can "make" two full size crayons, but in that case, you might as well just use the joiners on your broken crayons and skip the mess.
As for the swirling... that's not all that great either. You have to place the crayons in the tray in an alternating pattern to get it to swirl at all, but because of the way the tray tips up, it mostly just gets mixed together into a uniform color.
All in all, a great concept but very disappointing execution. Save your $25 and buy a new box of crayons or make homemade crayons in your kitchen.
72 of 77 found the following review helpful:
 Where was this toy when I was a kid?!Sep 29, 2011
By Melissa Niksic
If your child likes to color, then your child will LOVE the Crayola Crayon Maker! It's a little tricky to use at first, but it's so fun. Basically, it allows you to take old, broken crayon bits (and what kid doesn't have a ton of those laying around?!) and turn them into new crayons. It's a fun process for kids, it works really well (the only thing you need to add is a light bulb), and it also teaches a sustainability lesson about recycling and reusing. This is definitely a toy that I recommend.
45 of 48 found the following review helpful:
 nice idea, but small on crayonsNov 03, 2011
By home mom
This toy is sitting in my upstairs attic. We played with it once. The smell was not pleasant, but I did not expect melting crayons to smell great. Biggest complaint was that the newly made crayons are two small half pieces held together with a plastic connector. The kids were ages 5 and 7. We thought using old crayons to make new "crazy crayons" would be great. When we tried to use the crayons the connector didn't keep it together and the crayola crayons worked much better as the original. The re-crayons were not coloring as well, no crazy colors like we expected. I was sadly disappointed. I love crayola, but buy your own molds and melt them down in bigger batches.
19 of 20 found the following review helpful:
Needs lightbulb, crayons are mini, takes too long, quite large to storeOct 10, 2011
By Miss Darcy
First, this does not come with a light bulb. The site tells you this, but it doesn't tell you that the light bulb is not a common size/wattage, which makes it very hard to find. You'll soon be running all over town trying to get one. If this review doesn't dissuade you from the whole purchase, be sure to order one along with the crayon maker.
Next, the crayons you make aren't full size. I don't know why this bothered us so much, but it did. It's not like you're actually making yourself a box of new crayons; they are smaller. It feels like a ripoff somehow.
Others have commented on the long waiting time. Plan on at least half an hour for your kids to say "are they ready yet" every 10 seconds. You can't make another batch in the meantime; you just have to wait.
It's extremely doubtful that your kids will want to do this on a regular basis. That means you have to store this "toy" somewhere.
If you search the web for phrases such as broken crayon crafts and gifts, you will discover that you can actually melt crayons in the oven or microwave. If you pour them into candy molds (think dollar store item), then voila, you have your own miniature crayons---in fun shapes, too. That's definitely the way we'll be going from here.
15 of 16 found the following review helpful:
Patience and Cleanup RequiredSep 29, 2011
By J. Dassaro
"Dassaro Imaging Photography"
This product appears to be the successor to the Crayola Crayon Maker . In that regard, I was hopeful as that unit left a lot to be desired. This unit is not much improvement.
As others note, the toy is great in concept just poor in delivery. Assembly is fairly straight forward though you need your own light-bulb (not supplied). Next, have you ever used a light-bulb to melt crayons? Neither did I. Let me tell you its not a fast process and you will have to explain this fact to your child, but you can use the 25 minutes it takes to melt crayons to do this. This method is clearly a necessary safety precaution similar to an EZ-Bake oven. The kids loved the concept and choosing colors however and turning the knobs on the machine. However, if you turn one of the knobs, the automatic child lock engages and you will need to wait until it disengages.
The kids loved to watch the crayons melt and though it was really cool to reuse crayons destined for the trash bin. However, after experimentation, I would not mix the cheaper crayons (like those from restaurants) with crayola's. It seems there is a difference in the wax used and the two mix horribly and melt at different temperatures. Cleanup is a little difficult and will require you do some scraping, but overall no big deal.
I suspect most people will be happy with the project IF they have patience. I would say it is a perfect rainy day toy for parents and children (8 and under).
See all 88 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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