How People Make Crayons
From Mister Rogers' Neighborhood · 1981
Summary
The famous crayon-factory film, in its original full episode. Mister Rogers watches wax melt, get colored, get molded and get wrapped by real people at a real factory, then comes home and draws the Neighborhood of Make-Believe himself. In Make-Believe, Harriett Elizabeth Cow is not at all excited about the “Draw the Neighborhood” contest.
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Discussion
One of the best-loved factory films on television, plus a look at how it feels when something turns into a contest.
- What are the steps that turn melted wax into a crayon in a wrapper?
- Which jobs at the factory are done by people, and which by machines?
- Why do you think Harriett didn't want to be in the drawing contest?
- What is something you make that takes more than one step?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: factory, wax, mold, label, contest.
Try it: Number the crayon-making steps 1-5 in order on a strip of paper.
Try it: Draw our classroom or your street the way Mister Rogers drew his neighborhood.