Crayola facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids
Crayola LLC

Formerly	Binney & Smith Company (1885–2007)
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Art materials
Founded	July 25, 1885; 139 years ago (1885-07-25)
Founders	Edwin Binney C. Harold Smith
Headquarters	Forks Township, Pennsylvania , U.S.
Number of locations	11
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Smith Holland (president and CEO) Steve Hoff (EVP & COO) Peter Ruggiero (EVP, Operations)
Products	Crayons chalks acrylics watercolor brushes colored pencils markers modelling clay
Brands	Crayola Silly Putty Portfolio Series Crayola Studios
Number of employees	2,000 (2018)
Parent	Hallmark Cards (1984–present)

Crayola LLC is an American company that makes art supplies. It used to be called the Binney & Smith Company. Crayola is famous for its brand of art products, especially its colorful crayons. The company's main office is in Forks Township, Pennsylvania. Since 1984, Crayola has been owned by Hallmark Cards.

Crayola first started by making colors for factories. But soon, they began focusing on art products for homes and schools. They started with chalk, then crayons, and later added colored pencils, markers, paints, and modeling clay. All Crayola products are safe for kids to use because they are nontoxic. Most Crayola crayons are made in the United States.

Crayola also makes Silly Putty. They have a special line of art products for artists called 'Portfolio Series'. These include acrylics, watercolor, and brushes. Crayola says that almost all homes in the U.S. know their brand. Their products are sold in over 80 countries around the world.

History of Crayola

Crayola's founders Edwin Binney (left) and Charles Smith (right), around 1900.

The company began in New York City in 1885. It was founded by cousins Edwin Binney and Charles Smith. At first, they made colors for factories. These included red pigments for barn paint and black chemicals for making tires. In 1900, the company won a gold medal at the Paris Exposition for its black colorants.

Also in 1900, they started making slate pencils for schools. Edwin Binney experimented with materials like slate waste. This led to the invention of the first dustless white chalk. The company won another gold medal for this chalk in 1904.

In 1902, Binney & Smith became a corporation. That year, they created the Staonal marking crayon. Then, on June 10, 1903, Edwin Binney and his wife, Alice Stead Binney, created their famous wax crayons. They sold these under the brand name Crayola.

Alice Binney, a former schoolteacher, came up with the name Crayola. It combines craie (French for "chalk") and ola (meaning "oily"). The "-ola" ending was also popular in product names at that time.

Crayola launched its crayons with many different boxes. By 1905, they offered 18 different box sizes. These boxes had crayons of five different sizes. Only two sizes are still made today: the "standard size" and the "large size." You could buy boxes with 6, 7, 8, 12, 14, 16, 18, 24, 28, or 30 colors. Some boxes had color names printed on the crayon wrappers.

The Rubens Crayola line started in 1903. These crayons were made for artists. They were meant to compete with the Raphael brand from Europe. Rubens boxes ranged from five cents for six crayons to $1.50 for 24 larger crayons.

Rubens No. 500 box, around 1904–12.

Original Munsell crayons box.

The first two Gold Medal line 8-count boxes.

No. 52 box, around 1939–44.

In April 1904, Binney & Smith won a gold medal for their dustless chalk. Crayola used this to create a new packaging plan. They put the gold medal on the front of many products and crayon boxes. This idea was very successful. The gold medal design appeared on their packaging for over 50 years.

In 1905, their new No. 8 crayon box showed an eagle from the medal. Later, this changed to the side of the medal with the 1904 date.

Binney & Smith bought the Munsell Color Company's crayon line in 1926. This added 22 new colors to their collection. They used the Munsell name on products until 1934. Then, they added these colors to their own Crayola Gold Medal line.

In 1939, Crayola launched its biggest color set yet. It was called the "No. 52 Drawing Crayon 52 Color Assortment." This set combined existing colors with the Munsell colors.

In 1949, Crayola introduced the "Crayola No. 48" box. This box contained 48 color crayons.

More colors were added in 1958 with the 64-color pack. This box was special because it had the company's first crayon sharpener built right into the box. A museum curator called the 64-color box a very important moment for Crayola.

In 1977, Binney & Smith bought the rights to Silly Putty. This is a fun, stretchy, and bouncy toy. Crayola markers were introduced in 1978. This was to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Crayola crayons. In 1984, Hallmark Cards bought the company. Colored pencils and washable markers were added in 1987.

In 1998, Crayola Crayons were added to the National Toy Hall of Fame. On January 1, 2007, Binney & Smith changed its name to Crayola LLC. This was to show that Crayola was their most important brand.

In 2011, "My First Crayola" products were launched. These include triangular crayons and flat-tipped markers for younger children. In 2015, Crayola released "Color Escapes" for adults. These kits help adults relax by coloring.

Crayons

First version of the Crayola No. 64 box.

64-crayon pack sporting built-in sharpener.

Crayola telescoping 150 crayon tower.

Crayola crayon packs come in many sizes. Some small packs are given out at hotels and restaurants. Large "Classpack" boxes with 832 crayons are sold to schools. The number of colors in a pack can range from two to 200. The 200-color packs include special crayons like glitter or neon colors.

The most common packs sold in stores are multiples of eight. These include 8, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 96, and 120 packs. In 2006, a 150-crayon pack came out in a plastic tower case. It had 118 regular colors, 16 glitter crayons, and 16 "Metallic FX" crayons. It also had a sharpener built into the top. In 2013, a 152-crayon set was released in a yellow carrying case. It included all the colors from the 150-crayon set, plus Piggy Pink and Blue Bell.

Crayon Colors

As Crayola crayon packs grew, so did the number of colors. By 1998, there were 120 colors. Since then, new colors have been added, but some old ones have been retired. In total, 60 colors have been stopped. This means 180 different regular colors have been made over time. On March 31, 2017, Crayola announced that Dandelion would be retired. On September 14, 2017, a new color called "Bluetiful" was announced to replace it. This color was discovered by scientists experimenting with electronics.

Crayola currently makes 120 standard crayon colors. These are all in the regular 120-count box. This number does not include special crayons like Metallic FX or glitter crayons. It does include fluorescent crayons.

Colors chart

The colors in the table below are found in the 8, 16, and 24-count packs:

Thirteen of 50 officially retired Crayola crayon colors.

8 pack (as of 1903)		+8 = 16 pack (as of 1930)		+8 = 24 pack (until October 2017)
Red	Orange	Carnation Pink	Red Orange	Violet Red	Scarlet
Yellow	Green	Yellow Orange	Yellow Green	Green Yellow	Cerulean
Blue	Violet (Purple)	Blue Green	Blue Violet	Dandelion	Indigo
Brown	Black	Red Violet	White	Apricot	Gray

In 2020, Crayola launched "Colors of the World." This new line has 24 colors that match nearly 40 different skin tones. The box shows a gradient of skin tones. For the first time, color names were written in French, English, and Spanish.

Crayola's Cultural Impact

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History has a collection of Crayola crayons. It started with an original 64-color box given by the company in 1998. Now, the collection has over 300 boxes of crayons.

The Crayola crayon was one of the first toys added to the National Toy Hall of Fame.

Crayola has been shown on popular children's TV shows. These include Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. In February 1996, Fred Rogers himself molded the 100 billionth crayon at the Crayola factory.

Commemorative Postage Stamp

In 1998, the United States Postal Service made a special 32-cent postage stamp. It celebrated how important Crayola crayons have been to almost all Americans.

The stamp is part of the "Celebrate the Century" series. It shows the 1900s decade.

Crayola Color Census 2000

In 2000, Crayola held a special event called the "Crayola Color Census 2000." Americans were asked to vote for their favorite Crayola crayon color. Famous people voted too. George W. Bush chose "Blue Bell," and Tiger Woods chose "Wild Strawberry." Overall, "Blue" was the most popular color. "Cerulean" came in second, and "Purple Heart" was third.

Crayola Experience

Left: Crayola Experience in downtown Easton, Pennsylvania. Right: The "World's Largest Crayon" was made in 2003 from 123,000 used or broken blue crayons.

The Crayola Experience is a fun place to visit. It first opened as the Crayola Factory. It is located in Easton, Pennsylvania. It's a big, colorful place all about crayons. You can find events, a cafe, a store, and attractions there. You can also learn about Crayola's history.

There is a "discovery center" where you can see how crayons are made. There is also a "Crayola Hall of Fame." This hall displays all the crayon colors that have been retired.

On October 11, 2003, the Crayola Experience showed off "The World's Largest Crayon." This crayon was 15 feet long and weighed 1,500 pounds! It was part of the celebration for 100 years of Crayola crayons. The giant blue crayon was made from leftover crayon pieces. Kids from all over the U.S. sent in their old crayons to help make it.

The Crayola Experience has grown to several locations. The first opened in Easton, Pennsylvania, in 2013. Other locations include Orlando, Florida (2015), Bloomington, Minnesota (2016), Plano, Texas (2018), and Chandler, Arizona (2019). More locations are planned for the future.

Fine Art

Even though Crayola crayons are made for kids, some professional artists use them. Don Marco is one famous crayon artist. He uses Crayola crayons and construction paper. He has sold over one million copies of his art.

Other Crayola Products

A selection of Crayola products for sale at a New York City art supply store, July 2009.

Crayola LLC makes many products besides their famous crayons. These include colored pencils, markers, paints, and modeling clays. They also make coloring books and art tools. Like all Crayola products, these are safe for children to use.

Other Brands by Crayola

Silly Putty

Silly Putty is a stretchy, bouncy toy made of a special rubber. It was added to the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2001.

Portfolio Series

The Portfolio Series is a line of art supplies for artists and teachers. It includes water-soluble oil pastels, watercolors, drawing pencils, and acrylic paints.

Silly Scents

Silly Scents is a line of crayons, markers, colored pencils, clay, and paint that smell like different things.

Staonal

Staonal is a type of crayon made for industrial uses, not just coloring. It was created in 1902 and is still made today.

Scribble Scrubbie Pets

Scribble Scrubbie Pets are animal toys that you can draw on with washable markers. You can also play with "digital pets" using the Scribble Scrubbie Pets App.

Crayola Studios

In August 2023, Crayola started a new part of their company called Crayola Studios. This studio will make movies and shows for kids and families.

Licensing Deals

Many other companies make products using the Crayola brand name. These include things like bath items, bedding, and electronics. Firebrand Games made a Crayola video game called Crayola Treasure Adventures for Nintendo DS in 2007. Another game, Crayola Scoot, was made by Climax Studios in 2018.

In 2021, Kellogg's and Crayola worked together to create a fruit-flavored cereal. The cereal box also had a coloring book on it. Kellogg's Crayola Jazzberry Cereal had rainbow-colored corn puffs. The package also gave access to a digital pet in the Scribble Scrubbie Pets App.

Manufacturing

Crayola has factories in Forks Township, Pennsylvania; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Lindsay, Ontario (Canada); and Mexico City. Some of their colored pencils are made by Faber-Castell in Brazil.