Anyone who’s been around infants and toddlers knows they’ll stick anything and everything in their mouths. While you’d like for your child to explore their creative side, it can be tiring watching over them constantly to make sure they don’t eat their crayons or paint.
Now, a Japanese graphic designer, who worked from home while raising her kids, has created crayons that are completely safe and edible for little ones.
While preparing a meal one day, Naoko Kimura, founder of company Mizuiro, noticed the vibrant colors of the vegetables she was using. This became the idea behind Oyasai Crayon, which makes crayons from vegetable waste and by-products of rice production that are completely safe for children.
As per Gizmodo, the crayons are made from “solid rice bran wax and liquid rice brain oil” which are used to polish rice. The various shades of the crayons are made by mixing in crushed fruit and vegetable powders. And while Kimura does add food-safe pigments to enhance the colors, she only uses a third of the amount commonly added to regular wax-based crayons.
Interestingly, instead of being named by their shade, each crayon is named after the fruits and vegetables that helped create it, such as ‘Carrot’ or ‘Purple Potato’.
The Oyasai Crayons are available for sale in Japan, and Kimura has turned to Kickstarter for a crowdfunding campaign that will help make them available globally.
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