- Crayola has established the theme and plans for its annual “Creativity Week,” which provides educators and parents tools to encourage and nurture creativity in children.
- The event, which will take place virtually from January 27 through February 5, 2025, will be themed “Imagination in Action” and feature engagements from celebrities, authors, illustrators and other creators.
- Creativity Week launched in 2022 and has now become the centerpiece for the company’s “Campaign for Creativity” platform, which is intended to ignite a dialogue about the importance of nurturing creativity to help kids reach their full potential.
“This year’s theme, ‘Imagination in Action,’ was voted on by educators as their favorite because it brings to life creativity and the use of creativity to help kids learn across subject areas and inspire all the different ways in which kids and adults are creative,” said Victoria Lozano, executive vice president of marketing at Crayola, in an interview with Brand Innovators.
More than 6 million children across six continents and 100 countries participate in the annual Crayola Creativity Week, which is structured to provide free content to parents and educators including activity videos, downloadable handouts and a livestreamed school assembly that connects children throughout the world.
The activities are aligned with several educational standards and are designed to be completed in a single class period with minimal prep time, Lozano said. After the Creativity Week concludes, the content will remain available for on-demand viewing and use.
“We do quantitative research after each year, and nine out of the 10 teachers using the curriculum said the program was a great fit in terms of helping them with teaching goals and ease of use,” Lozano said. “One of the things they said they specifically liked was the lineup of talent and topics, so we wanted to make sure we continued to do that with this year’s program.”
Some of the participants in this year’s activities include actor and author Matthew McConaughey, actor and author Henry Winkler, children’s author and Illustrator Mo Willems, author Maris Pasquale Doran, U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limon, as well as NASA scientists. Themes throughout the week include “Life Lessons,” “Change & Collaboration,” “Abstract Thinking” and “Confidence Soars.”
“All of these [participants] have really interesting stories to tell about how their creativity was nurtured and how it helped them get them where they are today,” Lozano said. “They each showcase their own wide range of creative skills, and they all have a meaningful message and diverse point of view.”
The week also includes a variety of sweepstakes prizes that parents and educators can win for participating in the activities, including books, art supplies, technology, guitars, and an all-expenses paid trip to the Kennedy Space Center.
The week is part of Crayola’s overall “Campaign for Creativity” platform that is designed to foster creativity as a learning skill and mindset. Earlier this year, Crayola launched a campaign targeted at parents, encouraging them to recapture the creativity of their youth and encourage creativity for their children.
“When the brand was founded, it was founded around the theme that creativity was a fundamental life skill,” Lozano said. “Both of these campaigns are part of our brand initiative showcasing the value of childhood creativity and the role that parents and educators play in developing creativity as a lifelong skill and mindset.”
