Does the smell of a newly opened box of crayons take you back to your childhood? Then take a trip of nostalgia at the Crayola Factory Museum.  You can’t miss it as it is located under a giant box of crayons at 18 Centre Square in Easton, Pennsylvania. Staff inside demonstrate the manufacturing process by pouring wax and color into the molds. Visitors watch behind a clear panel as the hot liquid becomes crayons — then get to take some of the freshly cooled crayons home.

A museum of crayons naturally attracts children, and this one is designed for hands-on creativity. Children over the age of five can paint with the brightly-colored warm wax, create three-dimensional art with the Model Magic clay in the sculpture room and use markers to write on the wall. (Activities for children under five  are in a separate room.)  Adults will enjoy browsing the historic artifacts from Crayola’s manufacturing process. The company celebrated its 100th birthday in 2003 and created a 15-foot-long 1500-pound crayon from broken and used pieces that children around the country mailed in. The giant crayon, named “Big Blue” is on display in the gift shop just outside the museum.

From January 1 through May 23, the Crayola Factory Museum will have a Dynamic Dinosaur exhibit. A 9-foot tall brontosaurus, an 11-foot long tyrannosaurus and a 5-foot high stegosaurus will greet visitors and launch dinosaur-themed activities such as creating dinosaur hatchlings using a collage technique; prehistoric daily journals using washable paint, dinosaur stamps and other Crayola products; and dinosaur sculptures using Crayola Model Magic.

For a completely different but very close museum, visit the National Canal Museum one floor up. Here the displays about the canals and barges that pulled freight from one part of our country to the other explain some of the history of this area. Children guide a barge by hand down a 90-foot canal and harness a life-sized mule statue. Admission to the National Canal Museum is included in the $9.75 entrance to the Crayola Museum.

Insiders note: Purchase tickets on line through the website. When school is out the museum gets crowded, and ticket-holders are given preference over those who still need to buy them.

(Photos: courtesy Crayola Factory Museum. Used with permission.)