47 Fun Facts About Crayon

Crayola crayons were first sold in which year?

Crayola crayons went on sale in 1903 at five cents a box, a year after Binney & Smith's industrial Staonal marking crayon, and were aimed at schoolchildren.

The name 'Crayola' combines the French word for chalk with a suffix meaning what?

The '-ola' ending comes from oleaginous, meaning oily, a nod to the wax in the crayons; the same suffix was fashionable in names like pianola and Victrola.

Who coined the Crayola brand name?

Alice Binney, a former schoolteacher married to co-founder Edwin Binney, coined the name 'Crayola' for the company's new children's crayons.

Which greeting-card company has owned Crayola since 1984?

Hallmark Cards bought Binney & Smith, the maker of Crayola crayons, in 1984, and the family-owned greeting-card company kept Crayola as a subsidiary.

Where is Crayola headquartered?

Crayola's headquarters sit in Forks Township, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley; Binney & Smith renamed itself Crayola LLC in 2007 after its best-known brand.

Before crayons, Binney & Smith's carbon black was famously used to colour and strengthen what product?

Binney & Smith's carbon black went into car tyres, turning them from white to black and making the rubber far tougher; the firm's red oxide pigment also coloured barn paint.

Edwin Binney won a gold medal at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair for inventing what?

The medal went to Binney's dustless white chalk, a schoolroom chalk that did not powder hands and clothes; the medal's image was printed on crayon boxes for decades.

How were Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith related?

Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith were cousins; in 1885 they took over the Peekskill Chemical Works founded by Binney's father and renamed it Binney & Smith.

Which feature made its debut with Crayola's 64-crayon box in 1958?

The 64-crayon box of 1958 was the first Crayola box with a built-in sharpener, set into the back of its flip-top carton above four stepped tiers of sixteen crayons.

How many crayons were in the box that Crayola introduced in 1949, its largest for a decade?

The 48-crayon box arrived in 1949 and stayed Crayola's biggest assortment until the 64-crayon box of 1958.

The 'Flesh' crayon was renamed to what in 1962, partly in response to the civil rights movement?

Crayola renamed Flesh as Peach in 1962, partly in response to the civil rights movement; the crayon had earlier been called Flesh Tint and, briefly, Pink Beige.

In 1999 Crayola renamed 'Indian Red' to what?

Indian Red became Chestnut in 1999; the name had referred to a reddish-brown pigment from India, but Crayola worried children took it as a reference to Native Americans.

Which of these was among the eight colours Crayola retired into the 'Crayon Hall of Fame' in 1990?

Maize was among the eight colours retired in 1990 with Lemon Yellow, Raw Umber, Orange Red and Orange Yellow; Cerulean and Dandelion were among their replacements.

What name did a public vote give the blue crayon that replaced Dandelion in 2017?

The winning name was Bluetiful, chosen in a public vote in 2017; the hue was inspired by a pigment discovered by accident at Oregon State University.

The 2017 blue crayon was inspired by YInMn Blue, a pigment whose name is built from the chemical symbols of yttrium, indium and which element?

Professor Mas Subramanian and student Andrew E. Smith stumbled on it in 2009 while researching electronics materials.

Which colour did fans vote to save from retirement for Crayola's 100th anniversary in 2003?

Burnt Sienna won the 2003 'Save the Shade' vote and stayed in the box, while Mulberry, Teal Blue, Blizzard Blue and Magic Mint were retired to make room for Mango Tango, Inchworm and Jazzberry Jam.

Which of these was one of the 16 fan-named colours added to the 96 Big Box in 1993?

Macaroni and Cheese was one of 16 colours named by the public in 1993 for the 96-crayon Big Box, alongside Tickle Me Pink, Mauvelous, Purple Mountains' Majesty and Razzmatazz.

A special colour called 'Blue Ribbon' was produced in 1996 to celebrate what?

Blue Ribbon marked the 100 billionth crayon Crayola produced, in 1996; it came only in limited-edition 96-count boxes that year and never joined the regular line.

Which children's TV host moulded a ceremonial milestone crayon at Crayola's plant in 1996?

Fred Rogers, host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, moulded the ceremonial crayon in 1996; his programme had earlier filmed a famous segment on how crayons are made.

How many colours had Crayola officially retired by the end of 2024?

Crayola had officially retired 13 colours by the end of 2024: eight in 1990, four in 2003 and Dandelion in 2017.

Crayola's 'Multicultural Crayons' and 'Colors of the World' packs represent what?

The 2020 line has 24 crayons covering nearly 40 skin tones with a gradient label on the box.

Why did Crayola change some of its 1994 Magic Scent crayons the following year?

Parents said they smelled edible: food scents such as cherry, chocolate and blueberry might tempt children to eat the crayons, so in 1995 Crayola swapped them for non-food smells such as fresh air and lumber.

Crayola's first specialty crayons, introduced in 1972, were designed to do what?

The eight fluorescent crayons of 1972 were made to glow under black light; the line later carried names such as Laser Lemon and Screamin' Green.

Which stretchy toy has Crayola owned the rights to since 1977?

Silly Putty began as a failed wartime rubber substitute; Peter Hodgson borrowed $147 to pack it into plastic eggs in 1950, and Binney & Smith bought the brand in 1977.

Crayola's bouncing putty took off in 1950 after being mentioned in which magazine?

A 'Talk of the Town' item in The New Yorker in August 1950 brought Peter Hodgson over 250,000 orders in three days; a Korean War silicone restriction then nearly sank him.

Crayola launched its first markers to coincide with which company milestone?

Crayola's first markers arrived in 1978, timed to the crayon's 75th anniversary; coloured pencils followed in 1987.

Crayola crayons are in the National Toy Hall of Fame, housed since 2002 in which city?

The National Toy Hall of Fame has been housed at The Strong museum in Rochester, New York, since 2002; Crayola crayons were among its inaugural inductees.

How many crayons came in the first box of Crayola crayons?

The first Crayola box held 8 crayons in basic colours and sold for five cents; Binney & Smith aimed it at schoolchildren as a safe, affordable drawing crayon.

The Crayola Experience, originally the Crayola Factory, is in which Pennsylvania town?

The Crayola Experience opened in downtown Easton in 1996 as the Crayola Factory; later branches opened in Orlando, the Mall of America, Plano and Chandler.

Which colour company did Binney & Smith buy in 1926, bringing the colour wheel into Crayola?

The Munsell system had five principal and five intermediate hues; Crayola kept a colour-wheel structure until 1990.

Modern children's crayons are made mostly from which material?

Children's crayons are mostly paraffin wax, a petroleum by-product, blended with colour pigment, poured hot into moulds and cooled with water before being wrapped.

Which Roman scholar is thought to have described the first wax crayon drawing techniques?

Pliny the Elder's Natural History describes encaustic painting, in which pigment is bound in hot beeswax and 'burned in', the technique crayon histories cite as the earliest wax drawing method.

The French word 'crayon' originally meant what?

'Crayon' originally meant a chalk pencil, from the French craie for chalk; in modern French the word simply means pencil.

Charles A. Bowley developed early wax crayons in the 1880s from wax he had used to mark what?

Charles A. Bowley had been using wax to mark leather in Danvers, Massachusetts; he adapted it into pencil-like wax cylinders for drawing and sold them locally until demand outran his output.

Binney & Smith chemist Colin Snedeker was awarded a patent in 1990 for inventing what?

Colin Snedeker's patent was for washable crayons, whose marks wash off walls and clothes; Crayola put them on sale in 1991.

Crayola's early Rubens line was designed to compete with which European crayon brand?

Raphael was a European artists' crayon brand; Binney & Smith's Rubens Crayola line, with larger crayons in bigger boxes, was aimed at the same artists' market.

Which university's study ranked crayon smell among the 20 most recognisable scents to US adults?

A Yale University study of familiar odours placed the smell of crayons 18th among the scents American adults recognised most readily.

Crayola's 150-crayon pack of 2006 came in a case shaped like what?

The Telescoping Crayon Tower was a telescope-shaped case that collapsed like a spyglass, holding 118 regular colours plus glitter and Metallic FX crayons.

What percentage of US households does Crayola say recognise its brand name?

Crayola claims 99% brand-name recognition among US households; its products are sold in more than 80 countries.

How long is a standard children's wax crayon?

A standard children's crayon is about 3.5 inches long and roughly 5/16 of an inch thick; Crayola also makes larger jumbo crayons for toddlers.

Which company, founded in Rochester in 1876, was among the first to make and sell wax crayons?

Franklin Mfg. Co., founded in 1876, was one of the first American firms to make and sell wax crayons, showing them at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

In 1902, Charles Bowley partnered with which chalk maker to meet demand for his wax sticks?

Bowley partnered with the American Crayon Company of Sandusky, Ohio, in 1902; demand for his Massachusetts-made wax crayons had outstripped what he could produce alone.

Which Paris lithographer of the 1820s is counted among the inventors of the modern crayon?

Joseph Lemercier ran a Paris lithography shop from the 1820s that produced crayon and colour products, earning him a place among the founders of modern crayon making; Conté crayons had been used by artists since the 1790s.

Which newspaper's 2000 report of asbestos in three crayon brands prompted a federal review?

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's May 2000 tests found asbestos traces in Crayola, Prang and Rose Art crayons; the Consumer Product Safety Commission judged the risk low but got the makers to reformulate.

Which French court portraitist built his career on crayon portrait drawings?

François Clouet, portraitist to the French court under Henri II and Charles IX, built his career on crayon portrait drawings; Nicolas Lagneau later outlined portraits in crayon and tinted them with watercolour.

Crayola crayons appeared on a 32-cent US stamp in which commemorative series?

Crayola crayons featured on a 32-cent stamp in the Celebrate the Century series, on the 1900s-decade sheet alongside the Wright brothers' flight and Theodore Roosevelt.

How much does the World's Largest Crayon at the Crayola Experience weigh?

The World's Largest Crayon weighs 1,500 pounds and stands 15 feet tall; it was cast in 2003 from leftover crayon bits that children mailed in from across the country.