Crayola Crayon Town Construction play set.
(© 2009 Crayola/Wild Planet Entertainment)
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The adorable new Crayola Crayon Town play sets from Wild Planet encourage creativity and imaginative play in kids, as well as providing a great new way to reuse old and broken crayons.
Crayola Crayon Town activity sets
Each Crayon Town activity set comes with a themed paper coloring mat; Fold and Build cardstock 3-D environments; plastic vehicles, figures, and pieces that can be put together using crayons; and a set of Crayola crayons.
To play with each Crayon Town toy, children ages 3 and up can color the coloring mat and cardstock props, fold the cardstock to build 3-D structures, and then use new or old, broken crayons to assemble animals and other props like trees and signs. For example, a giraffe's head might be joined to its body with a yellow crayon "neck." The plastic vehicles double as storage spaces for crayons when play is done.
Crayon Town Zoo play set displayed at BlogHer09.
Signs and animals can be put together using crayons as
connecting pieces.
(credit: Renée Carver)
Crayon Town play set themes
Currently five Crayola Town themes are available:
- the Zoo large playset comes with accessories like a zookeeper figure, zoo animals with matching environments and props (like a polar bear with a Fold and Build igloo and a monkey with a crayon trunk tree), and a toy jeep.
- the Construction large playset comes with accessories like construction worker figures, Fold and Build buildings, crayon road signs, and construction vehicles for crayon storage.
- the Airport small playset comes with parts like a pilot figure and an airplane for crayon storage.
- the Horse Ranch small playset comes with parts like a rancher figure and a crayon horse.
- the Neighborhood small playset comes with parts like a 3-D Fold and Build house, a toy car, and a crayon dog and tree.
Free coloring mat refills can be downloaded and printed out at the Crayon Town Web site, allowing kids to create many different versions of each themed environment.
Crayon Town Zoo activity set. (credit: Renée Carver)
Crayola Crayon Town activity set review
This Crayola toy does an excellent job of encouraging both creativity and open-ended imaginative play. First, kids will develop visual perception and fine-motor skills by coloring and building the paper environments and assembling the crayon figures and props that come with each kit. Next, they can use the assembled environments and figures to act out many different kinds of imaginative scenarios and role-play situations.
The play does not have to end there, though. Older children can go on to design, color, cut out, and assemble their own cardstock backgrounds for each set. And once kids see how easy it is to use the included parts to make signs, animals, and other objects with crayons as connecting parts, they may be inspired to use lumps of clay or foam to start building other objects with old and broken crayons. Their play possibilities are not limited only to the parts that come with each set. With just a little imagination, they can expand and build upon these play words in an infinite number of ways.
Crayon Town Zoo play set monkey and crayon tree.
(credit: Renée Carver)
Creative and imaginative play on the go
Parents can bring these sets or even just parts of them on vacations or to restaurants for portable, on the go imaginative fun. For example, a folded-up playmat and a handful of plastic figure pieces and crayons could easily keep kids amused while waiting for a doctor's appointment or during a long road trip or airplane ride.
Where to buy Crayola Crayon Town activity sets
Families can find Crayon Town toys online at the Wild Planet Web site and The Crayola Store. The small sets retail for around $14.99 and the large sets retail for around $28.99.
Find out more about:
- the classic Crayola 64 crayon box.
- the Crayola 3-D Activity Set that uses 3-D Crayola chalk.
- the Crayola Super Brush Giant Sidewalk Painting Set.
- free cut and fold paper toys.
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