The Crayola Experience has long loomed in the background of Lafayette College students’ aesthetic downtown Instagram photos. But a question remains: what’s actually inside, and what can college students do there? We took a trip downtown this week in search of answers.
Day passes cost $26.99 a person if purchased online. Upon arrival, we were given a bag with a ticket for a “Scribbie Scrubbie,” a “decoratable” toy animal and two tokens that could be redeemed at various attractions.
The Crayola Experience boasts 28 attractions. Most of them are ways for visitors to test out different Crayola products.
The second floor hosts a large studio where visitors can exchange one of their tokens for a portion of Model Magic clay from a vending machine. We took ours to one of the many tables and struggled our way towards artistic genius using the plastic, child-friendly sculpting tools provided. After reading that all Crayola products are non-toxic, William decided to taste his clay to take on the perspective of a younger visitor. It was decidedly bitter — neither of us would recommend it.
Other exhibits fused art and technology. In “Cartoon Creator,” we watched the CrayolaBot, a small drawing robot armed with a fine-tipped marker, draw our photo in real-time. In “You Design,” visitors can scan in drawings of cars or outfits and watch them come to life on a large projected screen. We were humbled by the games in the “Adventure Lab,” an interactive exhibit where we completed “simple” puzzle video games to solve problems around an imaginary lab.
On the fourth floor, attractions team member in training Erica Lopez helped us through the “Drip Art” and “Melt and Mold” stations where we melted down crayons to create art.
So, the question remains: what can a college student specifically do at the Crayola Experience?
“Everything,” according to Sally Lynn, an attraction team member. Except, notably, the two-story indoor play structure, which we were both secretly disappointed by.
“It’s not always little kids,” Attractions Lead Jeremy Green said. “We’ll get other people, like grandparents, that will come by themselves. It’s all-ages.”
“We’re here for you guys to have a fun experience, to be creative,” Lynn said. “We don’t judge.”
Lynn guided us through “Water Works,” an attraction where visitors can race toy boats through a model canal.
She held true to her promise not to judge us but did acquiesce that we needed a bit more help than the average five-year-old to complete the activity.
We would recommend trying out the Crayola Experience at least once. It’s a fun way to relive the arts and crafts from your childhood, but the experience really is what you make of it.
“If you’re the type of person who enjoys being creative and just messing around with your friends and having a nice day out, then I think it’s definitely something that you could enjoy,” said Mary Ball ‘25, who works at the Crayola Experience as a food and beverage team member.
“It’s definitely not for everyone,” she added.
Ball believes college students can get the most from the experience “if you approach it from the perspective of ‘we’re just gonna have a good time.’”
