A Visit to the Crayola Experience in Easton, PA

lit sign with "Crayola Experience" in bright colors above the entrance to the attraction

Date of Latest Visit: July 13, 2024

Of the many amazing products made in Pennsylvania, very few are as beloved as Crayola.

The company, originally known as Binney & Smith, was founded in New York City in the late 1800s, but a new production facility opened in Easton in 1969 before the company moved its headquarters to the city in 1972.

wall mural depicting Crayola boxes through the years

Two decades later, they opened the “Crayola Factory,” now known as Crayola Experience in downtown Easton.

Much like Legoland or Hershey’s Chocolate World, the Crayola Experience is built around the namesake product with activities for all ages.

We first visited the Crayola Experience in the summer of 2021 but are now annual passholders, visiting frequently with our sons, ages 6 and 1 (the youngest just being along for the ride at this point).

The attraction spans four floors – three with activity stations with the first floor reserved for shopping and dining.

child at a drip art machine at Crayola Experience

We generally start at the top and work our way down, making our first stop at the drip art station. Here guests can control a spinner to create abstract art with two melting crayons. The wax then dries to create a lasting piece of art – and a cool keepsake – to take home.

child standing by a machine that is molding crayon wax into a race car shape

The top floor also features the melt and mold station where you can choose a color and a shape. After choosing a color and placing it in a machine, guests watch it melt into a car or ring or other shape for their take home crayon.

There’s also what’s called “Texture Crayze” where kids can make crayon rubbings from various blocks. This is definitely something for younger kids or those with a little more patience than our six-year-old.

child pushing a model boat through a model canal

One floor down is an attraction that has more to do with Easton than Crayola. The Waterworks is a hands-on space where kids can move a canal barge along a waterway that includes scale replicas of canal locks and inclined planes.

It’s a fun little diversion that helps center the experience in Crayola’s hometown.

child playing on a video screen inside Crayola Experience

Down a hallway from the Waterworks is the Adventure Lab where puzzling games await. There’s an interactive video wall where you try to drop paint into a bucket by creating a conveyor belt, a code-cracking game that forces you to look around in a virtual factory, and other puzzle-based games to challenge guests.

paper in a lexan frame showing how to create a treasure chest

Around another corner and guests are brought into the activity room. Among the various activities are the puzzle creator (where you can color a square and turn it into a puzzle to take home), rotating craft projects, and a painting area.

child at the top of a large indoor play structure at the Crayola Experience

But my son’s favorite part of the activity room is the two-story indoor playground, complete with giant slide. It’s a great “halfway” point activity that gives him some unstructured exercise in what is otherwise a mostly structured attraction.

On our first visit, Julie did one of the add-on activities that is available in this area – creating a wax hand.

woman with wax on her hand having her hand dipped in ice water after

It’s a unique memento created by dipping your hand in wax, then ice water to cool it. Once the wax model is removed from your hand, it’s dipped in up to two colors to create a unique piece. While it’s a cool and different keepsake, there are plenty of activities included in the admission that we haven’t felt the need to do this add-on again.

The second floor is probably the busiest. It’s here that guests spend the two tokens that they receive upon entry. The tokens are good for either a customized crayon label or a pack of Model Magic.

computer screen showing a red crayon label with a child's name being written on it

The crayon labels are done at one of several machines, each with a different Crayola color. Guests write a name and choose an emoji and the custom label is printed. You then take the label and crayon to a roller at the side where with a quick swipe, the label is attached.

It’s a simplified version of the process that wraps every crayon that comes out of the factory. And with our kids, the crayons definitely won’t go to waste.

Model Magic is Crayola’s take on modeling clay. It’s soft, foamy and mess-free. Several vending machines are set up where guests can use a token or pay 50 cents to get a single-color pack of Model Magic.

Taking a seat at one of the tables in the room, there are plastic tools and cut-outs to help shape your model, as well as instructions for making a variety of projects.

In the same room, guests can pick up a Scribble Scrubby to color. Scribble Scrubbies are white characters that can be colored using special markers, washed and dried, and colored again. Previous animal shapes include whales, sharks, octopi, horses, cows and others.

The second floor is also home to the theater. Here guests can see one of two shows: the crayon-making process or Chaos and Creativity, a cartoon short starring animated Crayola crayons. Each show is about 15-minutes and are engaging for all ages.

child holding a heart made out of yellow modeling clay

On our latest trip, there was also a new experience on the second floor – the Cartoon Creator. Here, guests take a selfie at one of four iPad stations. Then a robotic arm draws the picture on a blank piece of paper.

It’s truly an amazing thing to watch your image come to life. Of course, the machine only draws the outline so that you can then color in your creations however you want, using whatever Crayola crayons, markers or paints available.

A similar experience is available in the Be a Star booth where you can choose a cartoon background for your selfie which prints out in black and white for your coloring pleasure.

wall of crayons at the store inside the Crayola Experience

And you can get all of your coloring supplies in the first-floor store. While the store is open to the public, it’s also – like all good attractions – the path to the exit. Here you can find all things Crayola from coloring pages to collectibles.

pizza on a red tray at the Crayola Experience

The first floor also offers a small café. The menu is pretty simple, but the personal pizzas aren’t bad. If you have time, I’d also suggest heading across the street to the Easton Public Market for lunch (reentry to the attraction is available all day).

child hugging a life-size red crayon cartoon character

There’s a lot to enjoy and explore at the Crayola Experience, especially for a family with young children. And I think you’ll enjoy it, too.

When You Go

Parking is available at metered spaces along the street and in a parking garage less than a block away.
Re-entry is available all day during your visit so take time to explore downtown Easton for lunch, ice cream or shopping.
The store is open to the public without admission to the Crayola Experience – but the last hour of operation is reserved for attraction attendees.