Your children will LOVE the Binney & Smith Crayola Factory
Written: Aug 12 '06 (Updated Oct 27 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Reasonably priced and educational.
Cons: Parking
The Bottom Line: A nice stop if in the area or school trip.
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| northeastgal's Full Review: Pennsylvania |
On a recent trip to Pennsylvania with 10 family members (children and adults) going in 2 separate cars, we went to Dorney.Park.&.Wildwater.Kingdom and on the return we decided to stop at the Crayola Factory since we were passing the location. The children were excited about the Crayola stop also.
I enjoy seeing new destinations and had no objection. I too wanted to see what the factory was about. It was very well organized with extremely friendly and knowledgeable workers.
Crayola Factory Info:
The Crayola FACTORY
30 Centre Square
Easton, PA 18042
Phone: 610.515.8000
website: http://www.crayola.com/factory/index.cfm?action=plan.home
Hours: 9:30AM to 5:00 PM.
The debut of the first box of 8 crayons was in 1903 for a cost of 5 cents. The meaning of "Crayola" was created from French words for "chalk" and "oil" by Alice Stead Binney.
Our Experience
Since it's almost near the NJ border, we didn't go out of our way to reach this destination. We could see the building as we neared the street. There is a huge box of colorful opened box of crayons on the back rooftop of the building.
When we arrived in Easton, Pa, the Square where the building is on is a business district and parking is limited on the roadside, we noticed a parking garage behind the building and decided to park there. The charge for parking was $2 an hour. We did use coupons from a school coupon book we had taken with us from home for $1 off each person. The charge was $9.50 adults and children ages 3-64 less the $1 coupon off.
We were anxious to enter the building but I noticed a group of people in the front entrance gathered. There was a clown entertaining the children with tricks and jokes. I wanted to sit outside and enjoy the entertainment. There were round metal tables with attached benches but we arrived in the afternoon and did not know how long we needed to tour the factory.
The building is 4 floors. After we entered, we paid our admission. With each admission we received 3 coins and were told to use them upstairs. Then we went upstairs to start the tour. There was no one leading us for the tour. Everyone was pretty much on their own. There were steps to go upstairs or an huge elevator making it easy for families with wheelchairs or strollers. The place was crowded but not overcrowded.
Inside the building is an express McDonalds which was very crowded. I did want a milk shake, but they didn't sell them there. This was a convenient snack stop for us.
There were many, many areas for children to do crafts using their supplies and instruction sheets on making items with glue, construction paper, crayons and markers. If you wished, there was someone there to assist the children at each project location.
With the coins we received at the admission desk you could place them into this machine and get a crayon or marker to take home.
There was this large room with water based canals on very long tables the children could play with by building and blocking waterways to enable the wooden boat to pass through. It was educational and fun watching the children with hands-on using the miniature canal. There were a few seperate types of water learning experiments in the one room so that all the children wouldn't have to fight for the one.
This other room had real historical tools for doing various agricultural and farming work. It had historical value that children could touch and see how they worked. That part was also very interesting and could see the children being curious. The staff was easily available to explain or help throughout each activity section.
There was a room which was doing actual manufacturing of the crayons every half hour. We entered on the scheduled time and took our seat. The seats were long benches which filled half the room. The room was divided in half with plexiglass so we could watch and there was an open window. At the time stated, a man came in and started to demonstrate how crayons are made. The children wee quite impressed. There was a monitor to capture the view around the machinery. The demonstrator showed and explained the process of making 1 crayon. When the crayon was made, each child was eager to go up and get their free crayon with a label to attach themselves.
This demonstration lasted about 20 minutes. It was very informative to the adults and interesting for the children. This also gave us some time to rest a while.
After leaving the factory, you can go to the Crayola Factory Store which is in the same building on the first floor. There you can buy any type of Crayola product you can possibly imagine. There was a huge assortment of craft supplies, shirts and other things you many not find at your local store that sell Crayola products. My family decided to buy T-shirts at $9.99 each and various souvenirs. The 64 count box of crayons was $3.99. They also purchase a crayon placed inside a wooden velvety lined box. This crayon was labeled "True Blue Hero Crayon". This was indeed a very nice souvenir.
Would we be returning?
This whole experience lasted less than 3 hours. If you sit with your child and do each craft, it can last 4-5 hours. My grandkids took some of the supplies so they could do projects at home since they wanted to see everything they possibly could before they closed. There are many things to do and see there that I cannot possibly describe all of them on this review.
Although it was not a real factory, the staff was helpful and knowledgeable. Naturally there were far more children than adults there. I did not notice anything negative about the experience.
We enjoyed the tour and it was a memorable afternoon. This, to us, was a once in a lifetime thing to do. I believe the price to be fair considering all the things there are to see and learn about.
(My thanks to SurgRN911 for adding this destination to the database.)
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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