About Crayola
Crayola traces back to 1885, when Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith founded Binney & Smith in New York. The company introduced the Crayola crayon in 1903 and moved its headquarters to Easton, Pennsylvania in 1976, where it remains today. Binney & Smith became a wholly owned subsidiary of Hallmark Cards in 1984 and took the Crayola name for the company itself in 2007. The brand's range extends well past crayons into washable markers, colored pencils, paints, dry erase markers, and modeling compounds, sold in formats that scale from a single toddler-safe marker set to bulk classroom packs.
Every Crayola kids' marker set we review carries ACMI AP non-toxic certification and complies with ASTM D-4236, the federal labeling standard for US art materials. The brand's Colors of the World line, launched in 2020, is built around a range of real-world skin tones. Across our markers-for-kids, colored-pencils, and dry-erase-markers reviews, Crayola's lineup spans the full age range from 12-month toddlers to classroom-grade sets for older kids, with each product reviewed and recommended independently on its own specs.
Brand website: crayola.com
What Crayola makes
Crayola's range runs wider than the products we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
Washable markers
broadline and dual-tip marker sets spanning toddler-safe formats to 100-color dual-action kits — featured on DeskRated
Colored pencils
pre-sharpened, hardened wax-core sets built for classroom and kid use — featured on DeskRated
Dry erase markers
low-odor, chisel-tip whiteboard markers with an ink-level indicator window — featured on DeskRated
Crayons
the original wax crayon line, including the Colors of the World skin-tone range
Paints & brushes
washable paint sets for classroom and home art projects
Clay & modeling compounds
modeling compounds for hands-on creative play
Why we recognized Crayola
The DeskRated Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose products consistently stand out in our hands-on category reviews. Crayola earned it on the strength of the products below, evaluated the same way every product on this site is: bought, used at a real desk, and judged on merit.
Crayola products we rated highly
Crayola Ultra Clean Washable Markers, 40 Count
Uses Crayola's Ultra-Clean washable formulation, lifting cleanly off painted walls, finished hardwood, low-pile carpet, and most cotton clothing with warm water and standard detergent. The 40-color range covers skin tones and secondary mixes without forcing substitutions, and the broad conical tip suits the still-developing grip of preschool and early-elementary children. It is AP-certified non-toxic and ASTM D-4236 compliant for ages 3 and up.
Read the 7 Best Markers for Kids of 2026 guide →
Crayola Classic Broad Line Washable Markers, 12 Count
The standard Crayola washable formulation lifts cleanly off skin, most cotton clothing, and painted drywall with warm water. The 12-color classic palette covers the primary and secondary spectrum plus brown, black, and a peach skin tone, with a broad conical tip built for early-elementary hands. It is AP-certified non-toxic.
Read the 7 Best Markers for Kids of 2026 guide →
Crayola Super Tips Marker Set, 100 Count
A patented dual-action conical tip works as both a fine liner and a broader fill marker, useful for older kids moving from broadline coloring into lettering and illustration. The 100-color range includes multiple values within each color family, and the pigments are ACMI AP-certified non-toxic and manufactured in Italy under quality control.
Read the 7 Best Markers for Kids of 2026 guide →
Crayola My First Washable Markers, 8 Count, Toddler Markers
A stubby barrel and oversized cap are shaped for the palmar grip of a 12-to-30-month-old hand, and the bold 0.9mm conical tip lays down color under the unsteady pressure toddlers apply. It carries an explicit 12-months-and-up age rating, younger than the 3-plus rating standard across most of Crayola's other marker lines, and is AP-certified non-toxic and washable from skin and most fabrics.
Read the 7 Best Markers for Kids of 2026 guide →
Crayola Colors of the World Markers, 24 Count
24 skin-tone shades let a child draw a self-portrait in a color that matches their own skin. The formulation is the same washable, AP-certified non-toxic Crayola chemistry used across the brand's other marker lines, so it fits existing classroom supply-list compliance. The palette deliberately leaves out bright primaries, so it works best alongside a Classic or Ultra Clean set.
Read the 7 Best Markers for Kids of 2026 guide →
Crayola Color Wonder Mini Markers, Mess Free, 10 Count
The ink is clear in the barrel and develops color only on specially formulated Color Wonder paper, so it does not mark skin, clothing, upholstery, or painted walls, a different approach from the washable formulation used across the rest of the lineup. The compact mini barrel suits a 3-to-5-year-old hand and fits in a travel pouch or diaper bag for use in places that can't easily be wiped down, such as a car seat or a restaurant table.
Read the 7 Best Markers for Kids of 2026 guide →
Crayola Colored Pencils, 36 Count, Kids Pencil Set, Ages 3+
Ships pre-sharpened, which matters for parents and teachers outfitting a classroom's worth of pencils at once, and the hardened wax cores hold up to drops and the uneven grip pressure of children's hands better than softer artist-grade cores do. The 36-color range covers the basic palette for classroom coloring work, and the set is priced for bulk classroom and shared-supply purchasing.
Read the 7 Best Colored Pencils of 2026 guide →
Crayola Take Note Dry Erase Markers, Chisel Tip, 12 Count
Each marker has an ink-level indicator window so you can see remaining ink at a glance, addressing the mid-meeting dead-marker problem that a plain marker doesn't solve. It uses Crayola's low-odor, classroom-tested formulation, with a broad chisel tip that produces visible lines on classroom and conference-room boards, and the 12-color set includes enough accent colors for color-coded lesson plans and schedules.
Read the 7 Best Dry Erase Markers of 2026 guide →What earned Crayola the recognition
- Crayola products earned top picks across three of DeskRated's classroom-supply categories: kids' markers, colored pencils, and dry erase markers, each selected on its own specs and formulation rather than on brand name alone.
- Crayola's kids' marker sets carry ACMI AP non-toxic certification and ASTM D-4236 compliance, the safety labeling that school supply lists look for.
- The range covers the full age spectrum, from a 12-month-and-up toddler marker set through classroom-grade broadline markers and pencils to a 100-color dual-action set for older kids doing detail work, rather than a single one-size formulation.
- The Colors of the World line, launched in 2020, gives children a range of skin-tone shades for self-portraits, in the same washable, AP-certified formulation as the rest of the marker range.
- Crayola Take Note dry erase markers add an ink-level indicator window so users can see remaining ink at a glance, a practical detail for classroom and office whiteboards.