The Crayola Experience at the Mall of America is a year-round attraction for all ages. We’ve visited the Crayola Experience many times since they opened in May 2016 (it never gets old), but when my dad visited from out of town this summer it was fun to go together and experience it as a family of 3 generations!
The Crayola Experience is 60,000 square feet filled with 25 attractions as well as a cafe and store. When we visit, I just let the kids take the lead and PLAY. They have their favorite activities which they typically spend the most time at, like Art Alive, Drip Art, Modeling Madness and You Design, and then they do other activities like Rockin’ Paper and Meltdown or whatever looks fun that particular visit! But even if they do the same activities it’s a different experience than before, because they’re always creating something new. Plus, the Crayola Experience regularly changes themes in different areas, like Art Alive, so it’s completely new each time.
Speaking of Art Alive, this is one my daughter loves, as she’s loves to draw and create things. It’s easy with the screens – and this time the theme was fairy tales and magic. You can color magical characters, or create your own.
Then your creation will be projected on the big screen on the wall, and you can interact with it!
If you touch it on the wall it will move or do something you program it to do, like shoot out stars or swirl around.
While my daughter was enjoying Art Alive, my son was nearby at Modeling Madness. When you enter the Crayola Experience, you get a baggy to take home with 2 Crayola coins that you can use for certain activities. I have found that everything is free except for Wrap it Up, where you design your own crayon, and Modeling Madness, where you put a coin in a machine for a package of clay. They have many different colors, and my son loves to get a bunch (you can buy Crayola coins too). Today he clustered a bunch of clay together to make – whatever this is!
Next we watched the Crayon Factory Show. It’s about 20 minutes and shows how crayons are made! It has a live “Crayonologist” leading the show, who is joined by Scarlet and Turk (Turqoise), two crayon characters on the screens. After we left the show we each received a red, newly made crayon.
My dad really enjoyed the show and said it teaches you a lot. All I can say is there were no bored or restless kids here! The only thing I didn’t like was that the seats were benches without anything to to lean back on. It would have been more comfortable to have seats with backs, especially for older adults (and tired ones like parents!). But since the show is pretty short it wasn’t a big deal.
Past a bunch of other activities – like Meltdown, where you paint with melted crayons, and the Color Playground, which is a two-story jungle gym – is Rainbow Rain. Rainbow Rain is an interactive “curtain” of rainbow, melting wax.
My son and I played with this as it “poured” over us for a while.
Another favorite activity for my family is You Design, where you can color and design a car or clothing, and then watch the car or a model with your design come to life on the screen!
My daughter loves to design dresses, and my son loves to design a car or truck. He can program it to spin and do other fun things too.
Another activity we had to hit was Drip Art, where you pick out two crayon colors, spin the melted wax on a piece of paper and make a swirly-whirly piece of art. My dad got the hang of it quickly.
My kids and their masterpieces!
We all had a fun time together!
DISCOUNTED TICKETS
(updated March 2021)
I’m also proud to partner with the Crayola Experience to offer an ongoing, everyday discount via my special online store. That means you can get tickets for $17.50 vs. $22.99 – $24.99, every day! This is LOWEST price you can get every day, and the tickets are good for up to a year!
Here’s how to get the discounted tickets year-round:
- Just click on my personalized online store web link (URL) and enter the access code TCFM. (Or visit https://tickets.crayolaexperience.com and enter my personalized store name: Twin Cities Frugal Mom)
- You’ll be able to purchase and print the tickets right away, saving you time waiting at the entrance turnstiles and bypassing ticket booth lines!
For more information about our experiences at the Crayola Experiences, check out my full review after they opened here!
Otherwise, visit their website for more info!
(Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links that help support this site at no cost to you. All opinions are 100% mine.)