Field Trip

Yesterday Mr. Lime took Isaac to Cleveland to see an Indians game. I am told they had terrific seats and got to see an amazing triple play during the game. Since the boys were off having fun I thought the girls and I would go do something together. I suggested Longwood Gardens outside of Philadelphia and got a yawn. I suggested an amusement park and got a blase response. Then Diana suggested the Crayola Factory. I was shocked since it is geared toward kids, not teens. Calypso seconded the idea which shocked me even more since she is also a bit beyond the age AND she and her sister were actually agreeing on something, enthusiastically at that. I said ok, but to really enjoy this place we'd need to see if would could abscond with some little people. A call or two later and we had permission to snatch a set of 8 and 5 year old sisters who were dying of boredom.

There's a big glass corridor with buckets of special glass writing markers at either end. We spent about 45 minutes just drawing all over the walls. What other museum lets you write on the walls?

Next we have a couple of the girls working on their secret treasure map in the watercolor area. There's also a huge dryer over you can put your paintings through to dry them quickly so you don't have to carry around drippy papers, but I forgot to take a picture of that. Too much fun making stuff.

They give you blobs of the model magic clay so you can make things from that too. I made a couple pigs. The clay is all white but you can tint it with markers and make your own colors by kneading it in really well.

The 5 year old made this likeness of Diana.

We also made puppets and some other fun things but again, I was having too much fun making things or else carrying too many arts and crafts to think to take more pictures. We also had a chance to see how crayons and markers are made and learn about the history of Crayola.

The top floors of the building are given over The National Canal Museum. The museum has exhibits about the history of the canal system along the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers which was used to transport coal and other goods between port cities. Canals were dug parallel to the rivers and barges were towed by mules on raised paths. We didn't get to see any more than this room of the canal museum because....we were so busy having fun making crafts that we didn't get to the canal museum until 20 minutes before closing. this room had a really terrific hands on exhibit that showed the kids how locks work to move the boats through different ascents and descents in the canals. There were also experiments on buoyancy and such.

And now, in the spirit of G-man, some Crayola trivia...

• The factory cranks out 12 million crayons a day.
• There are currently 120 colors to choose from.
• In February 1996 Mr. Rogers molded the 1 billionth crayon which was in a special limited run (only a million were made) color called 'blue ribbon.'
• The factory was opened in 1903 in Easton , PA
• All crayons were hand wrapped for the first 40 years.
• The wax used is paraffin.
• The wrappers are still glued together with a mixture of cornstarch and water so all materials used are nontoxic.
• Local farmers often worked wrapping crayons in the winter months for 19 cents an hour.
• During the depression this was an important part of the local economy.
• Three colors have had their names changed. In 1958 Prussian Blue became Midnight Blue because teachers said students could not related to Prussian history. In 1962 Flesh became Peach to reflect the fact that skin colors are not all the same. In 1999 Indian Red became Chestnut to avoid the mistaken understanding that it was a reference to native American skin.
• In 1990 Maize, Orange Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Orange Red, Raw Umber, Green Blue, Violet Blue, and Blue Gray were retired.
• In October 2003 Teal Blue, Magic Mint, Mulberry, and Blizzard Blue were retired.
• Grant Wood, artist of the famous painting American Gothic, entered and won a Crayola coloring contest in the early years of the factory. He later said winning the contest gave him the encouragement to pursue a career in art.
• The Crayola brand name is recognized by 99% of Americans and ranks 51st in recognizability and consumer esteem in world brands.
• According to a Yale study, Crayola crayons are among the 20 most recognizable scents to Americans.