Katie sat at the plastic picnic table, a rainbow spread of crayons before her. She picked up the red and began coloring furiously, pressing hard to fill in the outlines she had drawn. The waxy point wore down fast under her heavy hand, until it was little more than a nub.
Frustrated, Katie tried to keep coloring with the worn crayon, but it just left faint, scratchy lines on the paper. She pressed harder, nearly tearing through the page, but still the color was too light.
With a huff, Katie threw the red crayon back into the box. The paper was covered in patchy smudges where the crayon had failed to deliver. Her picture was ruined.
Katie selected a blue crayon, hoping for better results, but after just a few strokes the tip was flattened and useless. She sharpened it with the plastic sharpener on the side of the box, but now the crayon was too skinny to color properly. The pigment barely showed.
Growing more upset, Katie rummaged through the crayons, noticing many of them were in sorry shape - worn down or broken from her heavy hands. The box was full of crayon nubs she had to press hard to get any color out of. Try as she might with the defective tools, her pictures never turned out right.
"Katie, it's time to go," her dad called from across the park. Katie sighed and swept the broken crayons back into the box. She left her latest unfinished disaster on the table and ran over to her dad.
That night, Katie slid the crayon box from her backpack and opened it on her bedroom floor. She dumped out the contents - a mound of stubby, defective crayons. Frowning, she turned them over in her hands, pressing on the worn down tips. She couldn't make good pictures with these.
Katie sorted through the mess, gathering up all the crayon bits and broken pieces. Carefully she lined them up and began pressing the broken edges together, trying to make the crayons whole again. But it was no use - they just fell apart in her hands. The crayons were beyond repair.
With determination, Katie scraped all the worn out crayons into a pile. She wouldn't let them defeat her. Running to the kitchen, she grabbed a bowl and filled it with water from the sink, then placed it on the floor by her crayon stubs. After rummaging in a kitchen drawer, she found a spoon.
Settling down cross-legged, Katie began her task. She dropped a worn blue crayon into the water and waited for it to soften. As soon as the paper wrapper peeled away, she scooped the soggy crayon mush out with her spoon and smeared it into the bowl. She did the same for the rest of the broken crayons, letting them melt in the water before scooping out the soft colored wax and adding it to the bowl.
Before long, a rainbow of wax filled the bowl, soft and pliable. Katie stirred the mush until the colors blended and swirled. She sprinkled in black to tone down the brightness.
When she was happy with the consistency, Katie dipped her fingers in and scooped out some of the wax. She smeared it onto a blank piece of paper, spreading it thickly with her fingers. The homemade crayon covered the paper smoothly and left rich, vibrant strokes of color.
Katie beamed with pride at her upcycled crayons. She had transformed her broken stubs into soft squares of wax that glided beautifully across the page. No more struggling to color with worn nubs. Now she could create the perfect pictures she had imagined.
Dipping her hands again, Katie swirled together new custom colors. She imagined all that she could make with her recycled crayons - cards for Mom, drawings for Dad's office, and masterpieces for the fridge. The broken tools that once limited her art were now molded just right in her hands.