Color Me Happy

A trip to the Crayola Factory in Easton, Pa., can bring out the kid in everyone.

By: Jillian Kalonick
   When Binney & Smith gave tours at its manufacturing facility in the 1980s and early ’90s, more than 20,000 people visited the factory each year. I was one of them, but rather than make the trek to their headquarters in Pennsylvania, I watched on television in my living room while eating Cheerios.

Staff photo by Jillian Kalonick

"Hands on" is the name of the game at the Crayola Crayon Factory in Easton, Pa. From left, Hamilton residents Jessica Baicker, Emily Mathes, Rachel Mathes and Kelsey Baicker provide the hands.

   Sesame Street featured the tour on one of its "How is it made?" segments, walking us through the process of manufacturing thousands of perfect tubes of blue, red and green, then showing smiling children scribbling away with their newly formed Crayolas.
   Still enraptured with the crayon-making process, I was drawn to the Crayola Factory in Easton, Pa., which opened in 1996 in Two Rivers Landing, part of a revitalization effort in the downtown area. The complex also includes the National Canal Museum, the National Heritage Corridor Visitors Center, a McDonald’s Express and the Crayola Store.
   "Factory" is a loose term, since Binney & Smith still manufactures its products at a facility a few miles outside of Easton. I was afraid the four girls I brought to the factory — Emily, 11, and Rachel Mathes, 9, and Kelsey, 10, and Jessica Baicker, 7 — would be disappointed by this, but not once did the Hamilton residents ask, "Is this really where they make the crayons?" I doubt they expected anything other than an interactive, hands-on discovery center.
   The factory does feature in-depth demonstrations of how crayons and markers are made, and children can put Crayola-supplied tokens in a slot near the equipment and get their very own box of four crayons or markers (apparently to condition kids to be consumers at an early age). An exhibit also details the story of Binney & Smith and houses the Crayola Hall of Fame, which seemed to be a little too much history for the girls to have to experience on their summer vacation.
   Many exhibits seemed more geared toward preschoolers than older children. Toddlers can plant and harvest plastic vegetables in the Color Garden, and young children liked seeing their reflections in Cool Moves, a room with a camera that records kids’ movements and a projector that distorts them using colors and patterns. Emily, Rachel, Kelsey and Jessica naturally viewed this as an opportunity to enact psychedelic interpretations of their favorite music videos.

Above, a Crayola worker demonstrates how crayons are made.

   The girls did not seem to mind that a lot of the exhibits were meant for younger kids; they enjoyed the color wall, a clear, tunnel-like structure that kids can color on inside and out. Also popular was the Chalk Walk, where kids can draw with sidewalk chalk — much like they do at home.
   In fact, their favorite activities were sculpting Model Magic, making masks, and coloring with the standard eight Crayola crayons — all of which are suited just as well to at-home play. Still, it was refreshing that it didn’t take flashy displays to keep their interest, and also a testament to Crayola’s "fostering a creative environment" schtick.
   Summer is the busiest time of year at the factory, and after we made a visit to the McDonald’s Express, we emerged to find wall-to-wall kids. I was relieved when the girls failed to be lured into Wax Works, the very popular area where children can paint with 16 different colors of melted wax. The late-August crowds had attracted a long line, but all four girls were content to lose themselves at the Color Carousel, "the world’s largest crayon caddy."
   Despite the plugging of new products, a display of computers set on the crayola.com Web site and the vast Crayola Store, I didn’t feel as though we were enveloped in a giant commercial the entire time. A world folk-art exhibit included chickens constructed out of plastic bags made in Africa, imparting that creativity-is-universal lesson, and children could make folk-art masks of their own and leave them for others to see (the girls chose to take theirs home). September’s theme features pop art, and the factory holds year-round workshops for kids and classes for teachers.
   The girls walked out with activity bags full of their creations: painted books sent through a press, homemade color slides and Model Magic sculptures. "Tip" plush crayons ($14.99) purchased at the Crayola Store were the stars of several backseat one-acts staged by Emily, Rachel and Kelsey on the drive home — Jessica alleviated boredom by sculpting her new silver Silly Putty to my seatbelt. I resisted the urge to interrupt them by sharing my fond memories of watching the real factory tour on television — they were happy enough to be "hands-on" kids, toting home their activity bags and souvenirs.
The Crayola Factory is located at Two Rivers Landing, 30 Centre Square, Easton, Pa. Hours (Sept.-May): Tues.-Sat.
9:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Sun. noon-5 p.m. Admission: $8, $7.50 seniors; free under age 3 (includes admission to the
National Canal Museum). For information, call (610) 515-8000. On the Web: www.crayola.com