Crayon facts for kids
A crayon is a colorful stick used for drawing or writing. Most crayons are made from colored wax, but some can be made from charcoal or chalk. When a crayon is made with pigment and a dry binder, it's called a pastel. If it uses oiled chalk, it's an oil pastel. There are also special crayons that dissolve in water, called watercolor crayons.
Crayons are popular because they are easy to use and usually not too expensive. They are also less messy than many paints and markers. Crayons don't have sharp points, so they are safe. Most are also non-toxic, meaning they are safe for kids. You can find crayons in many different colors. All these features make them great tools for young children learning to draw. Even older students and professional artists use them!
What Are Crayons Made Of?
When most people think of a crayon, they imagine the standard wax crayon, like the ones kids use. These crayons are usually about 3.5 inches (89 mm) long. They are mostly made from a type of wax called paraffin wax. To make a crayon, paraffin wax is heated up and then cooled down. This process helps it reach the right temperature to be mixed with dye. After that, the colored wax is shaped into sticks and sent out to stores all over the world.
One very famous brand of crayons is Crayola. This company was started by Binney and Smith. A chemist named Colin Snedeker, who worked for Binney & Smith, created the first washable crayons. He did this because people complained about crayons staining clothes and walls. Washable crayons made it much easier to clean up after drawing!
The History of Crayons
The exact story of how crayons began isn't fully clear. The word "crayon" first appeared around 1644. It comes from the French word craie, which means chalk, and the Latin word creta, meaning Earth.
The idea of mixing wax with color goes back thousands of years. An ancient art method called Encaustic painting used hot beeswax mixed with colored powders. This mixture was used to add color to stone. Artists would then use a heat source to "burn in" the image, making it permanent.
This method was used by ancient Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks. It's even still used today! However, this old process didn't create crayons that could be held and drawn with easily. So, it wasn't practical for classrooms or for kids' crafts.
Modern crayons are thought to have started in Europe. Some of the first cylinder-shaped crayons were made from charcoal and oil. Later, different colored powders replaced the charcoal in most products made in the early 1800s.
When wax crayons first became popular, many companies started making them. They all wanted to sell to schools and artists. Besides big companies like Binney & Smith (Crayola) and American Crayon (Dixon Ticonderoga), many other companies appeared. This happened from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. In total, over 300 crayon makers were known in the United States alone, and many more in other countries!
Images for kids
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A selection of colorful crayons
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Early Dixon crayon ad from Aug 1901
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A March 1905 ad from Crayola
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Crayola crayons
See also
In Spanish: Crayón para niños
