<P> A crayon (or wax pastel) is a stick of colored wax, charcoal, chalk or other material used for writing or drawing . A crayon made of pigment with a dry binder is a pastel; when made of oiled chalk, it is called an oil pastel . A grease pencil or Chinese marker (UK chinagraph pencil) is made of colored hardened grease . There are also watercolor crayons, sometimes called water - soluble crayons . </P> <P> Crayons are available at a range of prices and are easy to work with . They are less messy than most paints and markers, blunt (removing the risk of sharp points present when using a pencil or pen), typically nontoxic, and available in a wide variety of colors . These characteristics make them particularly good instruments for teaching small children to draw in addition to being used widely by student and professional artists . </P> <P> In the modern English - speaking world, the term crayon is commonly associated with the standard wax crayon, such as those widely available for use by children . Such crayons are usually approximately 3.5 inches (89 mm) in length and made mostly of paraffin wax . Paraffin wax is heated and cooled to achieve the correct temperature at which a usable wax substance can be dyed and then manufactured and shipped for use around the world . Paraffin waxes are used for cosmetics, candles, for the preparation of printing ink, fruit preserving, in the pharmaceutical industry, for lubricating purposes, and crayons . </P> <P> Colin Snedeker, a chemist for Binney & Smith (the then - parent company of Crayola), developed the first washable crayons in response to consumer complaints regarding stained fabrics and walls . A patent for the washable solid marking composition utilized in the washable crayons was awarded to Snedeker in 1990 . </P>

What kind of wax are crayons made from