Crayola Experience - And the rest

I have spent several weeks on the Crayola Experience because there was so much there. Even after dividing it into logical themes, there are still things I haven't mentioned.

There were classic ads, reminding you of the excitement of a new box of crayons.

There was a section on green about the environment, but...

there was also a bit about how many different shades of green there are, which is true of any color.

In the cafe there was a chart of the history of the different colors, which was pretty cool to see. 

Incidentally, the cafe had a show with some science, specifically as it pertained to light and color.

Just as a reminder, we were there just after Labor Day, so everyone had just gone back to school and work and it was too early for field trips. For most things that worked well, but the show would have been more fun with more kids. As it was, I had to volunteer for the first thing to give the one child in the place the courage to volunteer for the second thing. I was rewarded with Silly Putty.

There is also Big Blue, the world's biggest crayon. It is more impressive than the world's largest potato chip, which I have also seen.

The gift shop had a lot of cute souvenirs, but the best thing there was the ability to pick your own mix of crayons. It's almost too much pressure.

In conclusion, we really enjoyed the Crayola Experience.

Crayola Experience - For the kids

You mean it's not all for the kids? Kind of.

Obviously the various activities that I have listed can be enjoyed by visitors of many different ages. However, if you have young children with you, no matter how wonderful the creative and intellectual stimulation is, sometimes they also need to run and climb and burn off energy.

The Crayola Experience has some great options for that. It seemed like there was something on every floor that was not only good for play, but that worked with the overall themes. That meant not merely being colorful, but more.

Markers and crayons were built into the decor, as well as surfaces mimicking the melted wax.
 

There were places you could draw with colored chalk, and colored balls you could work in a maze.

And there were animals that you could scribble on, and it was all good.

  Plus, well, Lite-Brite is a trademarked term, so they didn't call it that, but they had a giant Lite-Brite.

One of the frustrating things about traveling with children is that sometimes what is there is too much for them to appreciate, or at least to spend the whole time on. At the Crayola Experience they take that into account, giving parents and children options.

Crayola Experience - The Canal Museum

I mentioned in a previous post that on the way to Easton there was a canal running along the bus route. Canals are an important part of the history of the area.

Once upon a time, The Canal Museum and the Crayola Experience shared a building, but as the lease ran out, Crayola wanted to expand and the Canal Museum moved to Hugh Moore Park, in some ways a site more pertinent to canal history.

http://www.tnonline.com/2012/apr/28/national-canal-museum-relocates-canal-site

https://canals.org/

When the move happened, part of the canal museum was left. This part was a route that allowed children to move boats along in water, learning about canal features. Crayola incorporated this into one of their exhibits.

First, change the barges to crayon boats.

Then you add a colorful mural, envisioning a place called Crayonopolis.

It should incorporate water and aquatic animals. Maybe you wouldn't normally encounter a whale or an octopus in a canal, but those are awesome pictures.

But all of the signage stays.

And all of the features, like locks, gates, tunnels, and sluices.

Completing the route, and learning is a splash!

Crayola Experience - The "Factory Tour"

Lately, pretty much every factory tour we take is a presentation of some kind, with speaking, video, and possibly some demonstration. Sometimes it is in the same building in the factory, and maybe you even have some windows where you can look over the factory floor, but they aren't letting you on there.

That is fine. Concerns about product cleanliness - especially for foods - and concerns about safety may make it close to illegal to offer the other kind of tour, let alone concerns about proprietary processes.

It is nonetheless amazing how interesting, informative, and engaging these experiences can be.

http://www.crayolaexperience.com/easton/things-to-do/things-to-do-with-kids/crayon-factory.aspx

There was video, including two animated crayons, Scarlet and Turquoise. There was factory equipment, where we got to see the melted wax, and the machine that forms them into the crayon shape. It gave a really good idea of the end-to-end process, and the scale of it.

One of the interesting things to me was as they talked about the creation process, and she was looking for something that could be used cleanly. I had never realized how remarkable crayons were for that. It's not just paint that can make a mess, so do charcoals, and oil pastels, and I never do much drawing with my pen without getting some on me. And Crayola are the best; just try comparing them to other crayons.

The other very interesting thing for me was that for all of the different crayon colors they have, there are only about eight label colors. It's certainly more practical that way, but it's something that I had never thought of.

Crayola Experience - Going Digital

http://www.crayolaexperience.com/

Most of the activities I wrote about last week were fairly low-tech, but that was not everything there was to do.

In one area, you could bring sleeping crayons to life by moving for them - and dancing for them.

This can be pretty fun, especially if you are uninhibited, but it is hard to get a good picture while you are doing it, based on both the light and the restriction in you movement caused by holding the camera.

There was also something similar to electronic white boards, where you could doodle and watch it glow.

Maria decided to make a statement of loyalty to home. I just thought about the pets.

Art Alive! was one of the more interesting concepts.

On the wall is a scene, with some default objects, but some that were put there by visitors.

To put something into the scene,  you go to a drawing station and create your figure.

I colored this friendly crescent moon and added effects.

And then there he was, floating through the scene.

You can also disrupt the flow of melting colors. This one wasn't my favorite, as I thought the result was less aesthetically pleasing.

You can also take a green screen picture with a giant crayon, so have pictures on various backgrounds.

Comparatively, I enjoyed the other activities more, but it is interesting to find how - exploring one basic concept - there end up being so many different things you can do.

Crayola Experience - The Art

There is so much going on at the Crayola Experience that I was not sure how to break it down. It is overall a celebration of creativity, but sometimes you are not making, and sometimes what you are working with is digital. This post is focusing on the things you make that are not digital. When you pay your admission they give you a bag to hold all the little souvenirs (some of which will start flaking off wax later).

Most of this happens on the melting floor.

One thing you can do is use toothpicks to paint with melted wax. It can be difficult to get the results you want, but Meltdown is something to try.

It goes a little better with a machine, for Drip Art. Here you choose a crayon color and insert it. The crayon is melted and dripped onto a revolving paper plate, followed by another crayon of a different color. You can control the speed of the revolutions and adjust the height.

 The final melting attraction is Melt & Mold. Pick a crayon and a mold and get a keepsake.

I never questioned for one minute that I wanted this little guy. I think of him as a dinosaur, but I think he's supposed to be a dragon. I'm not saying the ring isn't cool.

The tangible souvenirs don't stop on the 4th floor. On 2nd, you can make a custom crayon label, and then use the wrapping machine to properly affix it.

One of the most fun things is something that you can  do anywhere.

They had a huge coloring table with all of the crayon colors you could imagine, and coloring sheets in a variety of difficulty levels. I know that some people get into a Zen-like state when coloring mandalas, but the most enjoyable sheet for me was a picture of two crayons riding bikes.

It's just a reminder that no matter how much they add and embellish, there is a huge amount of enjoyment in a simple pack of paper and a box of crayons.

Crayola Experience - Arriving in Easton

The pounding rain that escorted us out of Philadelphia had mostly stopped by the time we got to Easton, leaving us with a gray morning.

However, just before we pulled up in front of the bus station, there was a splash of color.

We had no idea that we would be so close!

Our original plan had been to take our bags to the hotel, which was not supposed to be far away, then come back and do the tour. Well, looking around, our hotel was not far by car, but it was not somewhere you could walk to at all. That made it seem that we might have to take two taxis, or lug around our bags with us. They did have lockers, but they were too small to help us. Still, it doesn't hurt to ask.

The security manager let us keep our bags in his office. This allowed us to explore all four floors unhindered. I want to spend a few weeks going over that, because there was a lot of cool stuff, and I don't want to shortchange.

For us, that fun time started out with great customer service making our visit a lot easier.


http://www.crayolaexperience.com/easton