When you open a fresh new box of crayons, which color do you gravitate to first? If you said blue, then you’re in good company. In a poll conducted by Crayola in 1993 and again in 2000, blue was selected as the most popular crayon color.
There are many different interpretations of color preference and personality. An article on Care2 Healthy Living says that people who preferred blue are “Soft, soothing, compassionate and caring. Blue is the color of deliberation and introspection, conservatism and duty.” These are qualities that certainly describe my personality. I am someone who thinks about everything and weighs every option. I also have a personal sense of duty when it comes to things for which I am responsible, so I have a need to make sure that things are done and done right.
But it’s not JUST about blue. In 1993, the top five colors were Blue, Red, Violet, Green, and Carnation Pink. When 2000 rolled around, we had Blue, Cerulean, Purple Heart, Midnight Blue, and Aquamarine (read as: mostly blue). As far as I can tell, there hasn’t been a Crayola Color census since 2000. Nearly 20 years have gone by since that last poll, and since then, lots of crayon colors have come and gone. I think that it is beyond time to have another color census!
Today is National Crayon Day. Every year since 2009, I buy a brand new box of 64 crayons and complete a special project in celebration of this special day. I call it Use Every Crayon in the Box. This project also works as a team building experiment at work. I get a 16 x 20 coloring page—Crayola makes some great ones of different characters and themes. Then, I take the box of 64 crayons, and use every single crayon for one minute each to color in the entire page.
Recreate The Project!
- Get a box of 64 brand new crayons
- Remove the Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, Brown and Black crayons
- Get a coloring page (or blank sheet of paper if you are really ambitous)
- Set a timer for one minute
- Start the countdown and grab one crayon at random
- Color with that Crayon for a minute
- Repeat until every crayon has been used
- Use the original eight colors to finish up
In 2015, I colored an Avengers coloring page and shot a time lapse of my work on it.
This project taught me a lot and has become one of my favorite activities to do every year. Using a crayon for only one minute also frees you to just color and not think about things too hard. When you get into the zone of coloring and enjoying creating for the sake of creating, you forget which color is the most popular, and when you finish, you walk away with a unique work of art.
What’s your favorite color crayon color? Leave links to your version of Use Every Crayon in the Box below! I’ll have another coloring time lapse up on my Youtube channel again today.
