How to Make a Crayola Marker: Crayola Silly Scents Marker Maker Review

Crayola introduced the Silly Scents line this year. It consists of colored pencils, crayons, and markers. They also introduced the Silly Scents Marker Maker to make custom markers! Crayola sent me this Silly Scent Marker Maker to review. To say I was excited was an understatement. Part of the magic about this Marker Maker is the markers end up working and looking exactly like regular Crayola markers. This has to be hands down my favorite toy from Crayola! Read on to find out why.

What Comes In the Box?
The box consists of enough supplies to make 16 custom markers. It includes 3 marker ink and a color chart for different combinations of colors, 16 scratch and sniff stickers, 2 marker boxes to keep all the markers in, instructions, and 24 stickers to color.

Click here to find on Crayola.com

How Does It Work?
Crayola supplies marker ink, and all the components/tools to make custom markers. I had my kids help me make the markers and they loved it.

Before we started we gathered all the supplies in one area to minimize the potential for messes. The marker consists of a barrel, cap, inner core, tip, and plug for the bottom of the marker.

The first step was to put the marker tip in the barrel and then put it in the marker snapper (the blue piece).

The next step to was fill the measuring device with ink to 15 units with the desired color.  I found when we mixed colors it was useful to stir with a toothpick to get a uniform color. After that the inner core was lowered with tweesers into the liquid slowly so it would not spill. The core consists of plastic on the outside and a spongy core on the inside that was very good for soaking up liquid.

Once all the liquid was in the core, the core was placed into the barrel and then into the snapping device with the plug on the bottom. The device was pushed down until it snapped two times or the plug was firmly in place.

After we snapped the markers we left them upside down for five minutes or until the ink was at the tip.

And guess what? All the markers worked and they all were true to the color they were supposed to be.

What Did I think?
We LOVED the marker maker. My kids loved helping. After I made the first marker they knew the steps and were able to do many of the steps with me. The marker maker process taught my kids many important lessons. The marker maker would be good if used in a classroom setting too with each kid being able to make a marker.

• Manufacturing Process: My kids learned how to make something. The next time they look at a marker they will know exactly how it is made.
• Color Combinations: My kids learned about mixing colors to make different colors of markers. My daughter even suggested we make brown and came up with the color combination to do so on her own, 5 of each color.
• Capillary Action: My kids learned about capillary action when we had to wait for the ink to be absorbed in the core and then later into the marker tip.

I was amazed we made actual Crayola markers, not a different form of the marker. I looked at a regular marker later and all the components were the same. This was not the case when we used the crayon maker. The crayons are smaller or different shapes than original crayons. We were also amazed how easy it was to make markers. It was also not very messy at all. 

Here are the markers we made. They write like a regular marker! We have made 7 markers so far and the kids can not wait to make more. I bet we will be getting lots of refills for the marker maker.

What Would I Change?
There is not much I would change about the Marker Maker. The only suggestions I have is for some kind of stirring device when mixing color. A toothpick worked fine for us. The other suggestion is to have more scents available. The colors can be mixed, but there are only three base scents. It would be fun to make lots of different scents.

All in all we loved the marker maker. I bet you will do. Look for it on Crayola.com along with lots of other fun crayola toys. 

Collecting Information

What is collectible in this box? I would have to say the stickers are probably the most collectible item. They are small and individually numbered from Crayola. The marker box and ability to make your own markers will probably be collectible too.

Boxes: Crayola Silly Scents Marker Maker
Other  Boxes: There are other marker makers
Year: 2017
What's Inside the Box: 16 custom markers. It includes 3 marker ink and a color chart for different combinations of colors, 16 scratch and sniff stickers, 2 marker boxes to keep all the markers in, instructions, and 24 stickers to color.
Purchase Information: Received from Crayola
Where to buy: Crayola.com
Style Numbers: 74-7270 (Marker Maker), 74-7240 (Stickers and box), 74-7210 (Ink)
Code Numbers: 74-7270-0-200 (Marker Maker), 74-7240-0-151 (Cherry Stickers), 74-7240-152 (Watermelon Stickers), 74-7240-153 (Pineapple Stickers), 74-7240-154 (Grape Stickers), 74-7240-155 (Apple Stickers), 74-7240-156 (Banana Stickers), 74-7240-157 (Blueberry Stickers), 74-7240-158 (Strawberry Stickers) 74-7210-0-134 (Yellow Ink), 74-7210-0-142 (Blue Ink), 74-7210-0-138 (Red Ink), 74-7240-0-250 (Marker Box)
UPC Numbers: 071662272401
Manufacturing Location: Made In China with Ink from USA