Is it just me, or do you also have a mountain of toys taking up space in your home? Ideally, toys should be purged / sold when they are no longer used, but up-cycling and repurposing old toys is another fantastic option. Today, I'm sharing a few of my favourite ways up-cycle and re-purpose old toys. 
Peel the paper off the crayons. Break up the crayons and put them in a silicon muffin tin or candy tray. Melt the crayons in the oven at 300 degrees for about 10 minutes. (Make sure you place the silicon tray on a regular cookie sheet so that you can easily remove the melted crayons from the oven.) When all the crayons have turned to liquid, carefully remove the tray from the oven, and let the crayons cool completely. Pop the crayons out of the tray. 
These crayons make cute party favours, and you can make fun holiday versions too. 
2) Make unique picture frames - Start with a dollar store wooden frame, and use hot glue to attach old toys. I used old LEGO pieces to create a fun piece of decor for my son's room, but any small toys would work. I think it would be adorable to use old toy cars or old scrabble pieces. 
3) Create toy covered monograms - Big wooden letters are easy to find in craft stores, and they make adorable pieces of room decor when they are covered with old toys and craft supplies. Consider using a glue gun to cover a monogram with old crayons, pom poms, toy cars, bouncy balls, etc... It's a simple and fun idea.
5) Re-purpose old books - When you spend hours reading the sames books nightly to your kids, it is easy to form sentimental attachments to the stories. I love the idea of using old books to create artwork for a child's room or playroom using inexpensive frames. Book artwork is perfect for a reading nook too! 
1) Create custom art supplies - Every parent has a bin of old, broken crayons... and it is super-easy to transform useless crayon bits into adorable custom crayons in fun shapes. Simply:
These crayons make cute party favours, and you can make fun holiday versions too. 
2) Make unique picture frames - Start with a dollar store wooden frame, and use hot glue to attach old toys. I used old LEGO pieces to create a fun piece of decor for my son's room, but any small toys would work. I think it would be adorable to use old toy cars or old scrabble pieces. 
3) Create toy covered monograms - Big wooden letters are easy to find in craft stores, and they make adorable pieces of room decor when they are covered with old toys and craft supplies. Consider using a glue gun to cover a monogram with old crayons, pom poms, toy cars, bouncy balls, etc... It's a simple and fun idea.4) Transform old sports equipment into room decor - Kids often have tons of old sports equipment gathering dust, and some of it has sentimental value. I turned my boys' first hockey sticks into room decor by attaching wooden letters. You can find the full tutorial here.
5) Re-purpose old books - When you spend hours reading the sames books nightly to your kids, it is easy to form sentimental attachments to the stories. I love the idea of using old books to create artwork for a child's room or playroom using inexpensive frames. Book artwork is perfect for a reading nook too! There are many simple ways to up-cycle and re-purpose old toys. Do you have any ideas that I could use? I'm always looking for DIY inspiration! ♥Gina (aka East Coast Mommy)