National Crayon Day and Celebrating the History of Crayola

Today is National Crayon Day, so why not check out these colourful facts about one of the world’s greatest and most accessible art supplies, plus today is also the birthday of the Crayola brand!

Colourful Facts About the History of Crayons

• In celebration of Women’s History Month, we’d also like to highlight the fun fact that the name “Crayola” was coined by Alice Binney herself, and 
• The very first crayola crayons were sold door-to-door!  Binney & Smith had the brilliant idea to market the products to educators and children of school age.  In 1903, they sold their first 8 packages of crayons for one nickel apiece as door-to-door sales.
• The Gold Medal on early Crayola packaging represents Binney & Smith’s prize winning innovation of dustless chalk at the 1904 World’s Fair.
• At the time they were invented, there were no machines to press on those trademark Crayola Crayon paper wrappers, so they were hand-rolled by employees and families of local farmers for the 1st 40 years of manufacturing!  

• In 1994, Crayola had released a line of scented crayons called “Magic Scent” but they were removed from the market just one year later after parents expressed anxieties that children may try to eat them.  As a result, subsequent crayon scents were changed to create less appetizing smells such as dirt, grass, etc. Yuck!
• Yale held a study with 20 of the most recognizable scents, Crayons were number 18 on the list.! The scent that you normally associate Crayola wax with in the “unscented” lines is actually a derivative of beef tallow known as stearic acid.
• Colin Snedeker, a chemist for Crayola, devised the trademark washable crayons after numerous customer complaints of kiddos scribbling on walls with the original crayons which weren’t easily removable.  He also invented the neon and color-changing marker options!
• Crayons are not just for kids!  Check out the work of these notable artists who feature crayons as a theme or use Crayolas in their work as a medium.

Check out these fantastic Crayola Coloring Pages with car themes from their site:

Formula 1 Racecar Coloring Page

NASCAR Stock Racing Car Coloring Page

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