It doesn’t matter how old I am. Opening a yellow and green box of them offers a trip down memory lane. Untucking the top flap and peering inside at the waxy round sticks wrapped in matching colored paper, always makes me smile. Originally sold 8 per box, today you can buy them in packs of 24, 32, 64, and even 120. With so many colors available, what could be more fun than imagining ways to use them?!
From my journal: August 26, 2014, Newbury Park, California
“Class Prep Day…organized my classroom supplies…bought colored pencils, but crayons are still best for little hands…”
Crayons, those slightly shiny short cylinders that colored our childhoods are still widely used and beloved today. Although hundreds of companies have entered the crayon market, just a few remain in business. And the brand that dominates the market here in the U.S.? It is still Crayola. Over a century ago, cousins Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith, owners of a pigment business, were looking for a safer, cheaper, and less messy alternative to drawing with chalk and paints. So they tried mixing paraffin wax with non-toxic kid appealing pigments. The result? Colorful crayons! And the brand name? Credit goes to Binney’s wife Alice who combined the French word “craie” for chalk, and the suffix of Latin word oleum “ola” for oily, hence Crayola was born!
Now that you know a little about the history of crayons, test your knowledge further with these questions!
- What were the original eight colors in the first boxes sold beginning in 1903?
- What is the most popular color?
- How many crayons are produced each day in the U.S.?
- How much did the first box of crayons cost?
- What are a few unique names of Crayola crayons?
When I was an elementary school teacher, I remember how excited my First Graders were whenever they got to take out their crayons. While they were having fun coloring, they were also honing their fine motor skills, dexterity, and hand-eye coordination. The same is true for many of my Fifth Graders who opted to color patterned pages in their free time. Coloring is such an easy, relaxing, and stress-reducing activity, it’s no wonder kids love it. And it’s not just for kids. In the last decade, the popularity and sales of adult coloring books has soared!
The scent and feel of holding a crayon in my hand still triggers good memories of my own school days spent at Bartlett Elementary School. When Mrs. Fletcher, our kindergarten teacher, passed out the slim packets, I could hardly contain myself. Coloring was always fun until one of my classmates sent me into a tizzy. There were three main culprits. Gregory Q. who would press down too hard breaking one or more every time. And Susan W. who would peel the paper down too far. But probably most upsetting was witnessing Joey W. with crayons. He would…eat them! Tsk! Tsk! Just like any tool, crayons need to be and deserve to be treated with respect.
My school days are far behind me, but I still grab my mandala coloring books and crayons now and again and sit for a spell creating bright and bold designs. I also blend, mix, and layer various colors in portions of my mixed media works, especially in collages and on pages of my art journals.
And now to reveal the crayon-related answers!
- The original colors were red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, brown, and black.
- The most popular color is blue!
- The number of crayons produced each day is 12 million.
- The cost of the first box of crayons was 5 cents.
- Among the most unique crayon names are: Fuzzy Wuzzy Brown, Granny Smith Apple, Macaroni and Cheese, Purple Mountains Majesty, and Razzle Dazzle Rose.
Versatile, readily available, and no muss no fuss, crayons have always been and perhaps always will be the color of childhood and of happy times. Truly the color of fun!
A Journal Journey 