Crayons come in a wide variety of colors.
Coloring with crayons is one of the great joys of childhood. Crayons can introduce children to the world of art and unleash their imaginations. While many different sets of crayons exist, some specifically focusing on strange and unusual colors, traditional sets of eight tend to include the same basic colors.
Crayon History
In 1903, Edward Binney and Harold Smith invented the first set of safe and affordable wax crayons. Binney and Smith named their company Crayola, which is still a powerhouse crayon producing company. These first sets of Crayola crayons included eight colors. These eight color sets were the only sets produced up until 1949, when 40 more colors were added. The number of available colors continued to grow until the number reached 120 in 1998. Special glitter and glow in the dark crayons also exist. Rose Art and other companies make crayons as well.
Set of Eight
Black, blue, brown, green, orange, red, violet and yellow are the colors that were included in the original set of eight crayons. Normal sets of eight crayons still tend to include these colors, but specialty sets exist that include different colors.
Larger Sets
Larger sets almost always include the eight basic colors as well as several mixed and exotic colors. The larger the set, the wider a variety of colors you can expect to get. Colors such as apricot, blue green, gray, green yellow, peach, periwinkle, red orange, turquoise and yellow orange are all common colors. A list of included colors often comes with larger sets of crayons, and even if it doesn't, you can make your own list by noting the name printed on each crayon wrapper.
Other Types of Crayons
Although most people use the term crayons to refer to color wax pencils, the term can actually be applied to any colored writing or drawing utensil. Pastel crayons, chalk and colored pencils are other common and widely used types of crayons. In general, the same basic colors are included in a set of any of these different types of crayons.
