National Crayon Day

National Crayon Day, observed March 31st, celebrates crayons, the wax-based coloring sticks that have introduced generations of children to art and color. The most iconic American crayon brand, Crayola, was developed by cousins Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith, whose company Binney & Smith began producing the now-famous Crayola crayons in 1903, combining the words "craie," French for chalk, and "ola," from "oleaginous," meaning oily, to name their new wax-based product, which was designed to be a safe, affordable coloring tool for schoolchildren at a time when many pigments and drawing materials were considerably more toxic or expensive. Crayola's original box contained just eight colors, a far cry from the company's now-enormous modern color lineup that has expanded to well over 100 named shades, along with novelty formats like glitter, metallic, and scented crayons introduced over subsequent decades. Crayons remain one of the most common first art tools introduced to young children, valued for being non-toxic, mess-tolerant, and easy for small hands to grip and control compared to more precise tools like colored pencils. Beyond their practical role in early childhood development and fine motor skill practice, crayons carry significant nostalgic weight for many adults, with the specific smell of a fresh box of crayons frequently cited as one of the most recognizable, evocative scents tied to childhood memory. On National Crayon Day, people celebrate by coloring, reminiscing about favorite childhood crayon colors, or gifting a fresh box to a child.