Toy Review: Crayola Crayon Maker

Manufacturer: Crayola

Brand: Crayola

Age Recommendation: 8 and up

MSRP: $29.99

Intro Year: 2009

Did you know that the average kid will wear down more than 750 crayons by the age of 10? The Crayola Crayon Maker is the perfect solution for what to do with all those crayon bits that kids accumulate. And it's a great way to get creative.

Just place the crayon bits (with all paper labels removed) in the covered melting tray, turn the Crayon Maker on, and then pour the melted material into the crayon mold. The end result is a brand new crayon mix of whatever colors you choose to use. The Crayon Maker requires a 60w candelabra bulb to produce the heat.

This maker is a reintroduction of a very popular toy from 1999. It's been designed so the cover won't open until the wax is cool to the touch.

The whole process takes about 20 minutes or so, and we found that kids were engaged both in watching the melting and then loved pouring the melted wax into the molds. We found that it works best for them if they're coloring and creating while the molded crayons cool. We also found that this is something they like doing again and again and they even liked using fresh crayons because a huge part of the fun is making the swirled and mixed colors.

Because the crayons that come out of the molds are slightly shorter than a traditional crayon, Crayola has included an ingenious clip that allows two of the freshly made crayons to be put together to create something that's easy to draw with.