What are Broken Crayons?
What are Broken Crayons?
Using colored wax crayons as a metaphor for human beings allows us to explore many things about ourselves and others.
Most cultures tend to want people to fit within their cultural boxes.
Crayon manufacturers have been manufacturing and selling boxes of many sizes for over a century.
4, 8, 16, 24, 96, 100+
are some of the sizes
The variety and number of colors vary with the size of the box and the manufacturer. But still there is always that BOX.
Add to that the manufacturers place paper wrappers around the wax.
To protect them?
No!
Really to advertise the name.
Yes manufacturers have tended to give names to their individual colors. Some are generic. Some are what artists and art teachers would call them. Most are branded names that the manufacturers have chosen or have selected through contests involving large numbers of faithful customers.
In all my years as a crayons user, teacher, an artist or designer I have never truly cared about knowing the names.
My wonderful elementary art school teacher taught me to first
B R E A K M y C r a y o n s
either by 1st pulling or tearing off the paper wrappers or not
or slipping the wrappers off of some brands.
The purpose was to expose the entire crayon from sharpened tip to blunt end so that all of the wax material might be used for coloring.
By BREAKING the into pieces you make it possible to do many other things.
Stop for a minute to 3 minutes and generate a list of 12 things you can do with BROKEN CRAYONS you can not do with fully wrapped ones.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
or 24 or 36 push and stretch those creative thinking cells in your brain
Unfortunately some adults, parents and even children who have been influenced by ANTI-CRAYON BREAKERS get angry, annoyed, frustrated if you break your crayons. They don't even like the wrappers being removed.
Such a limitation can hold you back greatly.
I have done a variety of BREAK YOUR CRAYONS exercises for many years to demonstrate a variety of key points involved with CREATIVE THINKING.
One was simply to toss 4 pack boxes throughout a training or classroom or an entire audience and ask
"Please break these crayons. Either remove the wrappers first on not. End up with broken pieces of bare wax crayons."
"I have watched from children to senior adults and seen
a full gambit of reactions for Joy-Filled playing to horror
and fear."
In 1976 when I was the volunteer Gifted Education Teacher, a novice, first time teaching, with K to 5th grade teachers
I first saw the range of reactions from joy to fear.
Also I received some nasty critical phone calls and letters or notes from parents who were outraged by my TELLING their children to DESTROY their BRAND NEW CRAYONS.
The second year I once again assigned brand new 8 packs to be purchased for my class.
Throughout the entire year the children did many exercises and projects using wax crayons, broken ones, but NEVER their individual 8 pack boxes. Instead they used my large growing collection of pre-broken crayons.
When the children went home in June no parents called complaining about my having their children destroy THEIR BRAND NEW WHOLE CRAYONS because they NEVER HAD broken their own. The took home the same UNTOUCHED, UNBROKEN 8 packs that I required in September.
NO ONE NOTICED. At least it appeared that they didn't.
The next chapter I will begin with using
BROKEN CRAYONS as metaphors for HUMAN BEINGS
throughout their lives from birth to death
Using colored wax crayons as a metaphor for human beings allows us to explore many things about ourselves and others.
Most cultures tend to want people to fit within their cultural boxes.
Crayon manufacturers have been manufacturing and selling boxes of many sizes for over a century.
4, 8, 16, 24, 96, 100+
are some of the sizes
The variety and number of colors vary with the size of the box and the manufacturer. But still there is always that BOX.
Add to that the manufacturers place paper wrappers around the wax.
To protect them?
No!
Really to advertise the name.
Yes manufacturers have tended to give names to their individual colors. Some are generic. Some are what artists and art teachers would call them. Most are branded names that the manufacturers have chosen or have selected through contests involving large numbers of faithful customers.
In all my years as a crayons user, teacher, an artist or designer I have never truly cared about knowing the names.
My wonderful elementary art school teacher taught me to first
B R E A K M y C r a y o n s
either by 1st pulling or tearing off the paper wrappers or not
or slipping the wrappers off of some brands.
The purpose was to expose the entire crayon from sharpened tip to blunt end so that all of the wax material might be used for coloring.
By BREAKING the into pieces you make it possible to do many other things.
Stop for a minute to 3 minutes and generate a list of 12 things you can do with BROKEN CRAYONS you can not do with fully wrapped ones.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
or 24 or 36 push and stretch those creative thinking cells in your brain
Unfortunately some adults, parents and even children who have been influenced by ANTI-CRAYON BREAKERS get angry, annoyed, frustrated if you break your crayons. They don't even like the wrappers being removed.
Such a limitation can hold you back greatly.
I have done a variety of BREAK YOUR CRAYONS exercises for many years to demonstrate a variety of key points involved with CREATIVE THINKING.
One was simply to toss 4 pack boxes throughout a training or classroom or an entire audience and ask
"Please break these crayons. Either remove the wrappers first on not. End up with broken pieces of bare wax crayons."
"I have watched from children to senior adults and seen
a full gambit of reactions for Joy-Filled playing to horror
and fear."
In 1976 when I was the volunteer Gifted Education Teacher, a novice, first time teaching, with K to 5th grade teachers
I first saw the range of reactions from joy to fear.
Also I received some nasty critical phone calls and letters or notes from parents who were outraged by my TELLING their children to DESTROY their BRAND NEW CRAYONS.
The second year I once again assigned brand new 8 packs to be purchased for my class.
Throughout the entire year the children did many exercises and projects using wax crayons, broken ones, but NEVER their individual 8 pack boxes. Instead they used my large growing collection of pre-broken crayons.
When the children went home in June no parents called complaining about my having their children destroy THEIR BRAND NEW WHOLE CRAYONS because they NEVER HAD broken their own. The took home the same UNTOUCHED, UNBROKEN 8 packs that I required in September.
NO ONE NOTICED. At least it appeared that they didn't.
The next chapter I will begin with using
BROKEN CRAYONS as metaphors for HUMAN BEINGS
throughout their lives from birth to death
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