Layered Crayon Craft for Valentine's day

Last year the girls and I made crayon hearts for Princess A to hand out to her kindergarten class. We broke the crayons into pieces and melted them in a heart pan, jumbling the colors together. This year we tried a new technique so that the crayon would have layers of colors. I saved a few cans, I removed the labels and ran them through the dishwasher. I was hoping for more cans but this is all I collected over three weeks (we also had lots of Progresso soup but the cans are not good for pouring, they have a lip from the lid). The day before we soaked the crayons in a sink full of warm water which made taking the labels off much easier, and I know because last year I skipped the soaking step and my finger nails really hurt!
The girls picked five colors (the number of can we had) and placed crayons of that color in the cans. I placed the can in the oven at about 275 degrees Fahrenheit. When they were almost fully melted I stirred the crayons before pouring them in the molds.

Last year I had one small baking pan with heart shapes (the picture above this one with the crayon residue from last year). This year I had two flowers (seen above, from IKEA), a dog one, a puzzle pieces (IKEA), a plus sign (IKEA) and two of the heart pans. I found them all at thrift shops while looking for tea stuff for Princess A's birthday party next month. It was really nice to have so many molds. Last year we had to make three batches as the pan only made twelve at a time.

Directions:

1. Soak crayons in warm water, wait a few minutes and then remove paper.

2. Add dry crayons to clean cans (one color family in each can as they will blend together).

3. Melt crayons in can in oven at 275 degrees F.

4. When almost melted remove one can from oven and stir to blend colors (use an oven mitt!)

5. Carefully spoon (or slowing pour) a little into your mold.

6. Place can back in oven

7. Wait for the crayon in mold to solidify (you can place the mold in the freezer)

8. Repeat with next color

Note: We did not layer each mold with the same colors. We just poured them in some and not other. That way we did not have to wait as long before pouring the next color. I just made sure I did not pour melted crayon on the color I used before. I would pour it in an empty mold or in one with a color a I had poured much earlier.

The girls had so much fun. Since we only had five cans I did switch over to a different color for some of the cans. For example the yellow can was later used for the green crayons and the purple was used for red crayons. We had to make over 70 crayons! Yes you read that right 70!
Princess G has 44 students in her class plus 4 teachers. Princess A has 20 students plus 2 teachers (one is a student teacher). That is 70 Valentines. The girls also wanted to make a Valentine for Princess A's Kindergarten teacher from last year and her daughters.
On top of that we had to make a few extras for the girls to draw with. I pretty, much wiped out my crayon stash. I will have to get more before next year.
Just like last year I wrapped each crayon in plastic wrap with the extra gathered at the top. This year I stapled the gathered top to the Valentine (Princess G I folded in half, Princess A's I did not) so that the crayon hung below and could be seen.
I forgot to take a picture of the finished Valentine's. I will post one tomorrow if I remember.
I hope I wrote out the direction clearly. Fell free to comment or ask question. Let me know if you try it. It really is fun!