Crayons

I loved drawing & coloring as a kid. It was a comfort thing. So much so, that at age 21, when I had to have major surgery, I requested to have a new box of 64 Crayola Crayons & a coloring book to give me something to do during recovery. I still have that box of crayons almost 20 years later. (And my daughter had to ask permission to color with "Mommy's crayons!)

- Donna, Indianapolis

This story was submitted as part of the 100 Toys Project at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Vote for your favorite and share a toy memory through Aug. 17, 2012.

My favorite color has always been purple. But when I was in school, I discovered that Crayons gave me the power to choose Which purple, and gave it a name! Wisteria.. that's my favorite. No, Wisteria is not in the pack of 8 crayons, you have to buy the big packs, but who doesn't Love to see a beautiful new package of crayons with its endless artistic possibilities? I certainly do, and I'm so proud to say that my boys love crayons just as much as I did! This toy will be #1 in my book (coloring, that is) for decades, if not longer!

- Christen, Terre Haute, IN

This story was submitted as part of the 100 Toys Project at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Vote for your favorite and share a toy memory through Aug. 17, 2012.

I loved to do art projects when I was a child. One of my strongest memories is of opening a brand new box of crayons. I loved the smell and the shine on the rows of bright colors. I could not wait to pull out my favorite colors and draw a scene from my imagination.

- Krista, Indianapolis

This story was submitted as part of the 100 Toys Project at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Vote for your favorite and share a toy memory through Aug. 17, 2012.

The best gift was always a brand new box of Crayola Crayons and a stack of coloring books. I could color for hours. Even as I got older and in my teen years, if I was sick or things weren't going well, my Mom would bring me a new box of crayons and a coloring book and everything was better.

- Karen, Houston, TX

This story was submitted as part of the 100 Toys Project at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Vote for your favorite and share a toy memory through Aug. 17, 2012.

From when I can remember I loved to color with Crayola Crayons. Around the age of 6 years old I did not have money to buy my mother a mother's day card so I thought I would make her one. I chose the colors I liked from the box and took a butter knife and carved off shavings from the crayons. I wrote Happy Mother's Day with glue on colored construction paper and sprinkled the crayon shavings over the glue and wrote a message inside the card. When she received it she was overwhelmed and wondered how I got the idea to use the crayon shavings. after I saw her joy I began to do this every year until the age of 13 when I had money to actually buy a card. That year when I gave my mom a store bought card she said, "AWWW where is the ones you make with the crayons?" I guess she began to look forward to those more so I went to the good old crayon box again and made her another card!

- Michelle, Indianapolis

This story was submitted as part of the 100 Toys Project at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Vote for your favorite and share a toy memory through Aug. 17, 2012.

The State Fair is over, summer is coming to an end; now it is time to get ready for the new school year!
New "good shoes" for school, an outfit or two, dresses and skirts ( no jeans in my day), new pencils and paper. Find the old lunch box and book bag, maybe you need a new one this year? But the best part was the huge box of every color in the world!! Nice and sharp, they smelled so good, all lined up by color and shade. And a deluxe sharpener on the back ~ it didn't get any better than that!

- Barb, Gladstone, MI

This story was submitted as part of the 100 Toys Project at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Vote for your favorite and share a toy memory through Aug. 17, 2012.

As an only child, I spent a lot of time playing by myself. Coloring with crayons gave me a way to colorfully express my feelings. I have fond memories of coloring in coloring books with my best friend. We would ask our mothers to decide who had the best picture. Also, the color names were always fascinating to me. They always inspired my imagination. Also, the black crayon was always the smallest in my box!

- Cheryl, Indianapolis

This story was submitted as part of the 100 Toys Project at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Vote for your favorite and share a toy memory through Aug. 17, 2012.

To this day, my color sense is based on the names of colors from my crayon box. I recently told my sister that an item I was trying to describe was Burnt Sienna in color. She knew what I meant!

- Ruth, Prior Lake, MN

This story was submitted as part of the 100 Toys Project at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Vote for your favorite and share a toy memory through Aug. 17, 2012.

There was no better toy than a new box of crayons. And not just any crayons, but Crayola crayons. They have a distinct odor and taste (yes, we all bit into one at some time). A box of 24 was nice; 48 was great; but 64 was tops! The larger boxes had built-in sharpeners. We played with crayons so much that we had a shoebox full of stubs (we played with those, too).

- Jane, Westfield, IN

This story was submitted as part of the 100 Toys Project at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Vote for your favorite and share a toy memory through Aug. 17, 2012.

For every holiday and every birthday, I received a coloring book and crayons as a gift. And, I was thrilled! Some of my fondest memories include sitting at the kitchen table and coloring with my father. I remember receiving his instruction on "staying in the lines" and how to outline with bold strokes of the crayon and then fill in the rest of the picture with a lighter stroke. And, we always signed our masterpieces. A box of crayons...five cents. Time spent with Dad...priceless!

- Rita, Kokomo, IN

This story was submitted as part of the 100 Toys Project at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Vote for your favorite and share a toy memory through Aug. 17, 2012.
 

Such a big part of my childhood! The smell of crayons today still takes me right back to being a child!

- Val, Indianapolis

This story was submitted as part of the 100 Toys Project at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Vote for your favorite and share a toy memory through Aug. 17, 2012.

Ahh, picking up midnight blue and filling in outlined pictures in my coloring books... what could be cooler? Crayons are never ending toys. There is no end to the creations that come out of the drawings that one can make.

- Leslie, Indianapolis

This story was submitted as part of the 100 Toys Project at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Vote for your favorite and share a toy memory through Aug. 17, 2012.

All of my friends tease me because I own more crayons than their kids, and I'm in my 30s! They also tease me because I will only buy Crayola Crayons because they smell the best. I love the smell of Crayolas, and I visited the factory a few years ago. It. was. awesome.

- Kris, Indianapolis

This story was submitted as part of the 100 Toys Project at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Vote for your favorite and share a toy memory through Aug. 17, 2012.

My mom tells this story every year from my sister's birthday. It was the morning of April 1st, or April Fool's Day. My mom and I were sitting down coloring when her water broke. She had to call and convince my dad it wasn't a joke and that she was actually going into labor. The whole time I continued coloring waiting for my aunt to get there to join in the coloring.

- Shayla, Ft. Wayne, IN

This story was submitted as part of the 100 Toys Project at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Vote for your favorite and share a toy memory through Aug. 17, 2012.

I have always loved getting my new box of Crayola Crayons. It was so special to open the box with the wonderful points on them. I felt special to be the first to use them.

- Linda, Liberty, IN

This story was submitted as part of the 100 Toys Project at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Vote for your favorite and share a toy memory through Aug. 17, 2012.

Ah the crayon... the pinnacle of a child's distraction, be it during church, at a restaurant, Kindergarden, or simply a way to pass the time while adults were busy.

Apart from fond memories of Harold and the Purple Crayon, my memories of crayons mostly concentrate on my early elementary school days, where several mishaps caused me to have a long-term substitute during my second grade year. Officially an art student, our teacher taught us to draw trees and ships for the most part, over the course of two long weeks... I remember being particularly gleeful to sneak into my father's classroom (another grade) and swiping every shade of green, brown, and grey to draw castle after tree after pirate ship, and eventually dinosaurs... enough so, that it was laughable to even see his stock of colors, missing some very important colors... but what was a kid to do? A tree must have more than simple BROWN and GREEN involved, with all the shades available, why not?

- Sarah, Elkhart, IN

This story was submitted as part of the 100 Toys Project at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Vote for your favorite and share a toy memory through Aug. 17, 2012.

The best day of your life is the day you would head to school with a box of 64 sharp crayons. Nothing could go wrong at school that day. All the other kids wanted to share them with you.

- Sheryl, Indianapolis

This story was submitted as part of the 100 Toys Project at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Vote for your favorite and share a toy memory through Aug. 17, 2012.

Every kid played with crayons, but my sister made that activity memorable for our family. One evening, I was supposed to be watching her while my parents were away and I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up to see my parents looking down at me sternly. In my sleepy haze, I didn't understand why...it was because my little sister was standing on my back drawing huge spirals onto the living room wall with a black crayon. I still haven't lived that one down.

- Dusty, Indianapolis

This story was submitted as part of the 100 Toys Project at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Vote for your favorite and share a toy memory through Aug. 17, 2012.