Today was National Crayola Crayon Day. For the past couple of years I have done something special for the day to celebrate. Last year I did my Use Every Color in the Box activity and colored a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles page. This year because I am attending the #AvengersEvent on my birthday next week I decided to go with an Avengers picture.

I picked up a new box of 64 Crayola Crayons at Target (they were buy one get one for 50% off). I then got out my NX300, my NX30 and some lights, Disney Infinity Figures and set up a little studio so that I could video myself coloring 1 crayon a minute until I had used the entire box. I then made the video below and sped up the hour of coloring to a 9 minute video with some of me talking into the camera and most of it of me coloring the image. Enjoy.

Below I have some fun information about Crayola that you may not already know.

CRAYOLA FUN FACTS

• 13 million—the number of Crayola crayons produced daily
• 223 billion—the number of Crayola crayons produced to day!
• 24 count—the most popular Crayola crayon box
• Blue—the most popular Crayola crayon color
• The World’s largest Crayola Crayon is 15 feet high, 16 inches wide, 1,500 pounds and in America’s favorite color, blue

Crayola Timeline

1903 – Crayola® Brand Is Born: The Crayola name was coined by Alice Binney, wife of company founder Edwin and a former school teacher. It comes from “craie,” the French word for “chalk,” and “ola,” for “oleaginous,” or “oily.”

1958 – Name Change: Prussian blue, the first Crayola crayon color to get a new name, becomes “midnight blue.” Teachers prompted the change, as children could no longer relate to Prussian history.

1962 – Melting Pot: The company renames the flesh crayon “peach” to recognize that not everyone’s skin color is the same.

1990 – Eight Hues and a Cry: For the first time in Crayola history eight colors are retired. Maize, lemon yellow, blue gray, raw umber, green blue, orange red, orange yellow and violet blue are enshrined in the Crayola Hall of Fame.

1999 – What’s in a Name?: For only the third time in Crayola history a crayon is renamed. Indian red becomes “chestnut.”

THE EVOLUTION OF COLORING

Each year I go to Toy Fair and I love seeing what Crayola has coming up. It is hard to improve upon the awesomeness that is a true crayola crayon, but there are ways to update and innovate. One of the more recent additions to the Crayola line is the Crayola Color Alive.

Color Alive Action Coloring Pages allows kids to bring coloring to life. Pairing an innovative 4D app with four exclusive Crayola Color Alive Action Coloring Books: Skylander™s, Barbie™, Enchanted Garden™ and Mythical Creatures™. Each book contains 16 coloring pages, each featuring a unique character and animation, and comes with seven crayons including one Magic Crayon that unlocks a special virtual effect. The special effects crayons, which respectively correspond with the books above, are Ice- Blast Blue, Show- Stopper Pink, Pixie-Dust Yellow, and Fire-Breath Red. SRP: $4.99

While I was at Target I also picked up two of these Color Alive sets for the kids’ Easter Baskets. I think they will enjoy them very much.