Great Car and Travel Friendly Crayon Kits, Projects, and Fun Facts to Share with Friends on National Crayon Day

Remember when you were a kid stuck in the backseat on a long car trip? You whiled away the hours with car games, toys, and of course crayons!  Today is National Crayon Day, and we’re sharing some fun facts about these beloved art supplies, as well as some great travel friendly coloring kits and other fun things.

Did you know…

• The first sets of crayons were made using a combination of charcoal mixed with oil; the pigmented colors we know and love today were added later on.
• Alice Binney created the name “Crayola” using the French word for chalk, “craie”, and the word “ola” for oleaginous because the original crayons were created from petroleum based paraffin waxes.
• Binney and Smith, the folks behind Crayola, used to create pigments for red barn paint as well as a carbon black pigment that was used to create black dye for rubber tires.
• A single crayon mold at crayola can create 1,200 crayons a time, which weigh about 40 pounds!
• The inside of a locked vehicle can reach upwards of 180F degrees, so be sure to bring your crayons inside with you after coloring in the car. Crayons melt between 120F and 147F
• While vehicle manufacturers are working towards environmentally friendly alternatives to fuel, Crayola was already at the forefront of the movement!  In 1903, they used water power to manufacture crayons; in 2010 they installed asolar farm with 30,000 panels; by 2020, all crayons manufactured by the company were and continue to be made with renewable energy.
• Thanks to injection molding, Binney & Smith/Crayola is able to make anywhere from 2.4 million toa whopping 6.4 million crayons per day!

Keep the Kiddos (and Kids at Heart) Busy on Road Trips and Rest Stops with These Fun Ideas

Alberto Lot’s “Crayon Racing: Over 100 Tracks for High-Speed Coloring” is an incredibly fun coloring book with interactive games, mazes, and more for hours of entertainment on the go!

Got a lot of “leftolas” (that’s what Crayola calls the nubbins leftover from full sized crayons) after your road trip travels? Turn them into something new, fun, and quirky by melting them down into homemade race car crayons!  All you’ll need is a silicone candy mold in the shape of cars and trucks, and a hefty pile of “leftolas.”  Fill the cavities in the silicone mold with peeled crayon nibs and pieces and melt them with this recipe from Craftulate.  You can create rainbow crayons, monochromatic ones, or solid colors. The possibilities are endless fun!

Looking for a handy dandy coloring kit that fits in backseat pockets and backpacks for easy travel? We love this affordable car themed coloring kit for just $8 sold on Amazon.

Before you head out on your next big road trip, check out this cool gallery of 100% free Printable Cool Car Coloring Pages from iHeartCrafty Things!  You’ll find all sorts of fun cars and transportation themed pages to print for hours of on-the-go fun.

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