Beyond a simple name change, The Crayola Experience continues to evolve, offering new fun, creative, and engaging projects.
Recently, I took advantage of one of the
LivingSocial deals I had posted on the NPUT website for half-off tickets to The Crayola Experience. C
reative, indoor (air-conditioned!) fun sounded like just the thing we needed on a hot summer day yesterday and it proved to be every bit as fun as we hoped.
Getting There
We made the drive to the nice little town of Easton by way of 309-North and 78-East. My GPS had suggested taking 476-North to 22-East, but the scenery and road conditions on my alternate route proved well worth the few extra minutes. The drive was right around an hour door-to-door with minimal traffic and no roadwork to speak of.
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| Economical parking at the adjacent garage. |
Parking couldn't have been easier. A reasonably-priced public parking garage is adjacent to the Crayola building and offers payment by cash (most hours) or credit/debit card which you can pay via machine or live person on your way out from the convenience of your car window. Oh, how I love anything drive-thru now that I have children! You can also sometimes find a spot on the street for 50-cents per hour, but only quarters, dimes and nickels are accepted.
Every area of the center was stroller and wheel-chair accessible including the parking garage and main entrance and an elevator offers access to all floors. Some stroller parking areas were seen throughout and a sizable coat room was available at the entrance where I noticed some families had stowed their cooler bags with pre-packed lunches.
Fun Awaits Inside
When you check in at Crayola, you'll receive three shiny silver tokens per child, a clear, handle goody bag for carrying your child's creations (love this improvement over the old paper bags!), and a small crayon box for collecting free crayons as you make your journey. I found it helpful to carry a backpack rather than a handbag that day to keep my hands free to help with projects and carry bags. We were also glad we heeded the advice on Crayola's website to wear play clothes as a couple of activities did leave my youngest with some flecks of paint and wax on her shirt. (A non-issue since we were prepared.)
The fun begins on the second floor of the center with a wide variety of creative crafting options, opportunities to redeem your tokens, and a demonstration room where you can see how crayons and markers are made. The twenty-minute, all-ages presentation offers plenty of visuals and even a freshly-made free marker and crayon for everyone. Be sure to note the showtimes for this educational and essential part of your visit. Its easy to become carried away with your crafting and lose track of time, but the presentation is very interesting!
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| Presentation on how crayons and markers are made. |
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| Painting with melted wax. |
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| Redeeming tokens for crayons. |
Adjacent to the demonstration are easy-to-use automatic crayon and marker dispensers where your child can choose to redeem their tokens. Be sure to save at least one to redeem for Model Magic in the next room though! The second floor also included a neat area where kids can paint with melted wax and a large area for drawing with sidewalk chalk.
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| Sidewalk chalk doodling. |
A ramp leads to another section on the second floor where many more activities and crafts are available. One of the favorites of my five and seven-year-old was an area where you can pose for a photo with one of your favorite characters. Choose between Spider-Man, Lightning McQueen, or Cinderella, pose, and in a few moments, you'll have not a photo, but a coloring page with you and your favorite character to color! What a fun use of technology!
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| Pose with your favorite character for a custom coloring page staring YOU! |
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| Instructions for one of the guided crafts. |
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| Painting paper for binoculars craft. |
In the same room, a toddler play area offers something to keep little wigglers occupied while older siblings color or create a guided craft which changes frequently. Yesterday, the craft was a pair of animal print-patterned binoculars. The kids painted a long, rectangular paper which they then fed onto the belt of a large drying machine and patiently waited for their paper to re-appear so they could roll, tape, paper punch, and tie a string to make their binoculars. Plenty of Crayola staffers were on hand to help and I was impressed by the hospitality of one young employee in the area who engaged us in conversation and told us he had met a family from Alabama earlier that morning.
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| Kids color on the clear glass walls. |
Some of the other creative fun we enjoyed while on the second floor included trying out unique Crayola products like Color Explosion paper with color-revealing markers, coloring with markers on the clear, glass walls of an underwater-themed area called "Scribble Sea", and dancing around in front of a colorful projector and even some fun house mirrors.
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| Doodling with glow markers. |
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| Funny what inspires some kids, isn't it? |
The creativity continued on the third floor where kids are invited to draw on the walls with glow-in-the-dark markers and work on another guided craft project. There was also a new mini-shopping area where parents could purchase craft kits to take home.
One of my children's favorite parts of Crayola has always been the "Water Works" area on the third floor, a hands-on educational area where kids can learn about canals. This unique little area was left behind when the National Canal Museum relocated earlier this year.
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| Driving boats through the canals in the "Water Works" area. |
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| Fourth Floor Art Gallery |
Our final stop at Crayola was the fourth floor, a loft area that showcases works of art created by children that offers a quiet place for inspiration and calm after a busy day.
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| Samples of artwork from the 4th floor gallery. |
Planning The Next Trip
All in all, we spent about three hours at The Crayola Experience. The bathrooms were always close by when we needed them and all of them offered changing tables and wheelchair accessible stalls. On this trip, we remembered to bring two quarters and one shiny penny per child so that each of them could purchase a keepsake pressed penny from one of the hand crank machines. Something to note: on a busy day, it could pay off to start on the top floor and work your way down since most people seem to follow the same path through the building.
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| McDonald's Express offers a convenient lunch. |
An indoor eating area is available for those wishing to bring their lunches from home. Tables and benches are also available nearby outside along the picturesque Centre Square traffic circle along which the building is situated. For those who would prefer to eat inside the Crayola center, a McDonald's Express conveniently offers traditional, kid-friendly favorites on the first floor of the center. A number of other local eateries are within a short walk, as well, and re-entry to Crayola is permitted.
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| View of Centre Square, downtown Easton from the 4th floor. |
Had my children not been so tired (okay, mommy was tired, too) after our visit, I had wanted to stop in at a cute little ice cream shop right next door called The Purple Cow Creamery. Next time I hope we do that and also do some exploring of the surrounding town. The local police station shares some space in the parking garage so that elicited some "oohs" and "ahhs" on our walk back to the car.
The Crayola Experience is also about two thirds of the way to the Poconos and halfway to New York City for us here in North Penn, which makes it a great add-on to any family roadtrip, as well. The Color Wonder creativity packs we picked up made for a quiet, mess-free drive home and many other great Crayola products are available at the Crayola Gift Shop which is adjacent to the Crayola Experience and features the world's largest crayon weighing in at 1,500 pounds!
For directions, hours, and additional detailed information, visit The Crayola Experience online.
We're looking forward to our next visit and I hope this helps you plan yours!
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You don't need me to tell you how scorching hot it is outside. According to Weather.com right now, "A major heat wave is sweeping across many states east of the Rockies" and relief is days away. Your community pool may offer some relief, but even this native southern Californian thinks it is still just plain too hot to move outside right now!
