Kids Colorful Crayons

Once upon a time there lived a man named Edwin. He was an inventor and a businessman. Edwin had the habit of listening to the people and making what they needed. Edwin’s company sold carbon black made from burning oil and natural gas. It was used in printing ink, electric street lamps, stove and shoe polish. This carbon black made the car tires more durable.

One day, Edwin got bored with the black color. Wherever he saw it was black. The work room had black grease on the wall. The workers were working with Black tar and it released Black smoke and Black dust. Then the output was Black dye and Black shoe polish.

Edwin loved colors. When he sees anything colorful it made him happy. He liked the yellowish orange colored flowers in his garden. He enjoyed seeing the scarlet red color on cardinal’s feather (bird). He adored the bluish green color in waves of the sea.

He had a cousin named Harold. He was a great salesman and who loved to travel around the world. Edwin and Harold ran the company – Binney & Smith.

Edwin invented a grey pencil which was costly. It did write smoothly on the slate and can be easily erased. Those days, papers were expensive to buy. So the kids used slates to write, draw and learn.  

Then he invented a white chalk which was dustless, but easily broken into pieces. When you draw using the chalk, it smudged everywhere. The kids couldn’t get a perfect picture.

Later he invented a Black wax crayon which was used to write on the brown or white paper packages and also on wood. It was really dark black.

Edwin’s wife – Alice was a school teacher. She asked her husband, Edwin to invent a pencil or a crayon which will be less pricey and easy for the kids to write. Because the first crayon invented in Europe was made out of Charcoal and oil. The crayon was big and dull when written on the slate. It can only draw fat and thick lines. That really looked clumpy and ugly. In European market they sold artist crayons but they were way too expensive which everyone cannot afford. And they break easily and it was toxic too.

Edwin listened to his wife and deeply gave a thought about what could be done. Edwin said “So the kids need a crayon which should not be expensive or smudge and cannot be easily erased or broken”. Something clicked his mind.

Edwin and his team started their experiment in a lab which was a stone mill in Pennsylvania. The first ingredient is obviously the paraffin wax, and for colors he added fine powder of rocks and minerals that naturally had different colors like red, white, yellow, blue, grey and brown. They came out with numerous shades of colors.  They also used clay and blended it with wax and brought more new shades of yellow, orange, and pink.

Then the SECRET formula was created.

The team poured the mixture into small molds which was of the right size for the kids hand to hold and draw.

Bright, dark, colorful, strong and non toxic crayons were invented.

Edwin’s wife Alice named it CRAYOLA CRAYONS. CRAY = Stick of chalk (in French) +OLA (Oleaginous means oily).

The crayons of eight different colors like Violet, Red, Blue, Green, Black, Brown, Orange and Yellow, stocked in a small box and sold it for just one nickel (Rs.8/- now).

The children in his town and around the world liked these color crayons so much. Now the kids can draw Red apple, little house, green trees, brown mountains, yellow sun, blue sea, violet flowers and a big rainbow all using these colorful crayons. Their drawing won’t smudge or erase. The kids saved their art work for a long time with them.

After few years, the inventors made paper from tree pulp and it was easily available to all for less cost. Later, kids used crayons to draw on paper instead of slate.

Binney & Smith was awarded a Golden medal for their invention on dustless Chalks.

Edwin got more inspired by different colors and shades of flowers found in his garden. He brought all shades and made it into crayons. The color crayons were big hit in the market. To increase the enthusiasm and happiness in the children, Edwin and his company gave the children an opportunity to name the different shades of color crayons.

Kids named them – “Tropical Rainforest, Robin’s egg blue, Macaroni and cheese, Granny Smith’s apple, Tickle me pink and so on.

Finally, the children got all the shades of colors to draw their favorite picture. They no more need to stick up with the primary color crayon because now they have everything in one box. Children drew and colored Sunglow, wisteria, jungle green, wild watermelon, lavender, timber wall and it’s a very big list!....hooooo hoooo…..

Edwin listened and listened and listened and made things possible.

Moral: Listening is the only thing needed to help someone. More successful people do more listening than talking. Kids should develop this habit of listening. The world is giving you answers everyday all we have to do is listen and respond at the right time.