Crayola Crayon Factory, Craft Kit, Gift for Kids 8+

I don't know why all these reviews are so negative. I bought this for my 6 year old and she loves it! The machine its self is very well made and safe for a child to use alone once they learn the process. 6 & up. My daughter loves lil characters and particularly the lil puppy crayons. They are small, a lil larger than shopkins and other tiny characters. The little crayon wrapper ripper tool is amazing! She sits and unwraps crayons while the one in the machine is cooling. It takes about 10 minutes to make a crayon but the waiting time is constructively timed to prepare the next bits. The machine barely gets warm to the touch even after several hours of use. Which I love!!! There's no danger of a child burning themself while using. I do wish there was some more exspansion packs with this machine but overall it's a good assortment of characters. Lil playful hearts, puppy & car. I'm really happy I bought this for her!

For our family, this new model is a great improvement over the old Melt 'n' Mold.We have the previous version, the Melt 'n' Mold, and it's been a big hit. But, my 8 year-old daughter sometimes has some difficulty using one hand, and so opening and closing the mold holder on the old version would require help, irritating for an independent child (and a mom who might be busy doing other things while she plays with it). With the Melt 'n' Mold, she would also sometimes forget to tip the tray when the crayons had melted, necessitating an extra long wait while it finished its cooling cycle, then restarting from the beginning. Not a big deal, but a pain. She did love watching the crayons melt into a neat pool in the trays, and the variety of molds available.This new version has a lot going for it as far as we're concerned.Pros: - Can be used pretty much one-handed, or at least with little strength needed from one hand - Neat to watch the wax drop down into the mold - No need to fiddle with the fitting the molds into the case to hold them shut (worst part of the old Melt 'n' Mold) - LOVE the little crayon unwrapping tool -- maybe this has been a thing for ages and I never knew about it, but WOW, no more getting little crayon bits under my fingernails as I peeled crayons for her to use in the mold! Zip a crayon through and it's done!Cons: - Only comes with three molds, and no expansion packs available yet - Might be a little slow for some kids, but for us it's been fine. I think it's a comparable speed with the Melt 'n' Mold, but you don't have the active step of tipping the melty crayon trays into the molds.

Cool idea. Terribly designed. The crayons melt, but harden again before they can drip into the mold, jamming up the entire machine. Works only on the first try, if you do a second mold in a row it won't work. Complete mess after one use. Don't waste your money.Also - although I knew this, worth mentioning that each crayon takes a 3-4 minutes to warm up, 2-4 minutes to melt and drip into the mold, and another 5 minutes before it cools enough to unlock. Then you need to wait for another few minutes before taking it out of the mold. PER CRAYON. Try doing this with your child, I dare you. It's not going to keep their attention even if it did work.

We bought this for my 5 year old nephew, who was exceedingly excited to try it with us. For the most part it worked as advertised, with a couple of minor caveats:1. The molds are quite small.. from photos, and the box, it appeared they would be bigger, but the limit is 1 crayon for input, so you can imagine how that limits it.... which is not all bad, per se, because then you get to make more, but they do end up quite small.2. Despite letting them cool adequately as per instructions, the output shapes tended to break easily (e.g. part of the heart).The time it takes to create one is not insignificant, so maybe not a good choice for kids who get unruly when impatient.But on the whole, my nephew enjoyed this product, even if only for being able to make crayons/shapes with multiple colors.

My daughter has used this daily since she got it more than a month ago. She has created an army of crayon cars and gives them out to her friends. The machine can use broken crayons but certain crayons don’t work, like the triangle shaped crayons or some of the cheaper ones... don’t melt right. Honestly, she has not gotten tired of this and is working her way through a bucket of broken crayons..

My 8 yr old and I have had more fun with this than any other gift he got for Christmas. Very durable. It’s been dropped from the table a few times now. Only 1 tip - use ONLY Crayola crayons!!! The consistency is different than cheaper crayons.

This thing is awesome, but i feel like we're on borrowed time with it. The first one we received didn't work at all, it wouldn't heat up. So we returned it in hopes it was juts a bad one. It works, but sometimes it cools faster than it drips into the mold and so it's not completely flawless. Really cool. Wish it held some of the thicker or triangle shaped crayons too.

What a wonderful idea and way to use broken or small pieces of crayons. I haven't gotten to use it yet, but it looks to be easy to use. It's a great gift idea for children, grandchildren, etc. I was so glad to find this. I've looked on line to find ideas for using old crayons and there are many ideas available and this little item is a great addition to those ideas.