A relatively short drive from Madison is Easton, Pennsylvania, the home of the Crayola Experience. If you plan to go, and you really should, just be prepared for a loud crayola experience. There are a lot of kids having a lot of fun. Here we are before we entered the building. This is actually a picture Callie later chose to bring into her first grade classroom to talk about her family.
There a host of interactive experiences inside, and in one of them you can use these glow crayon picture boards to create whatever you want to. Callie and Sarah decided to recreate our experience at the beach. As you can see there were a few additions. For example, we did not see a submarine at the beach.
Another activity included painting with water colors. You could choose from a number of different templates and it was clear that the cheetah was the most popular one. And although this was Callie's first choice, she was willing to compromise and settle for the parrot. Reese was in seventh heaven because she got to choose a zebra. What you do not get in this picture of apparent serenity is the bouncy/climbing jungle gym mere feet away from this table upon which dozens of children were screaming, chasing, crying, and creating pure mayhem. This is not a place for the weak of heart.
The coolest aspect of the water color activity was the quick drying machines they had set up so that you didn't have to walk around the rest of the experience with a soggy piece of paper. They worked in minutes and it was definitely one of the more amazing parts of the building. Or at least it was the most thoughtful part of the experience. And yet we had only just begun.
When you first enter this building each child gets a series of five tokens that you can use at different points along the way to get cool things. One of the things you can do is make your own crayon label. So you can put your name and pick a symbol so that your crayon is uniquely yours. We are now the proud owners of four personalized crayons. Now if we can only remember where we put them.
The girls got to run around and do a ton of activities. They melted old crayons and molded them into cool new shapes. They colored pictures that were then projected on a wall. They collected molding clay and made personalized markers. They truly owned the place and had a great time. This picture with this crayon character definitely displays the confidence and sass with which they tackled the whole day.
This picture encapsulates so much. Any good kids' attraction worth its salt can be rated on its end of the tour gift shop. John avoids these like the plague, for the evoke his instinctive, "We don't need that!" Sarah, on the other hand, is drawn to them like a magnet. Callie and Reese love their mommy, especially when they are facing a wall of crayons and markers. Yes, a wall. It was intense. And, apparently, we needed a lot more markers and crayons to build up our stores in case of future shortages or rationing. It was a great day, but the trip was still not done. We got back in the car so we could make our way to the next adventure.
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