You give a child a toy that looks like food and guess what? They’re gonna try eating it. That’s just what kids do, because they don’t know better and try to eat everything. Since everyone knows that, potentially appetizing items like Play-Doh are non-toxic. You don’t want a fake donut to lead to a real trip to the emergency room. But why stop there? Why make a safe, inedible plaything when you can make an edible version instead? That’s exactly what one Japanese mother has done. She created crayons from rice and vegetables your kids can actually eat.
Graphic designer Naoko Kimura couldn’t guarantee her kids wouldn’t eat the crayons she gave them to use. Since necessity is the mother of invention, this mother did something about it. It began when the bright colors of the vegetables she was cooking with inspired her. From there she decided to make edible crayons out of them. (Which we first learned about at DesignTAXI.) And as though that wasn’t cool enough, these aren’t just good for children. They’re good for the environment.
Her Oyasai Crayon line is made from oil and wax from rice bran and normally discarded outer leaves of vegetables. The crayons are also “colored as raw materials.” And pigments that supplement the bright colors are the very same used in food coloring. Everything about these are completely safe and completely edible. The crayons even have vegetable names. You can color with “Carrot” and then snack on one that tastes like it.
Oyasai Crayons
While the origins of this idea date back to 2012, Kimura now has a Kickstarter to get them out to more people. You can get a pack for less than $20. That might sound expensive for crayons. But technically this is also a meal.
And more importantly, it’s a way to guarantee your kids don’t eat something they shouldn’t.
