‘Crayola Creativity Week’ Draws Millions of Participants

Creativity is an increasingly important skill for students to learn in a world where machines can perform rote tasks and calculations—and for the fifth straight year, Crayola will be hosting free lessons and activities that foster student creativity during its annual Crayola Creativity Week.

Scheduled for Jan. 26 through Feb. 1, 2026, Crayola Creativity Week is a no-cost program for schools, libraries, and families worldwide. Crayola has partnered with famous authors, artists, actors, musicians, and NASA scientists to bring educational content and prizes to children, teachers, parents, and librarians throughout the week-long event.

In a testament to how popular the event has become, last year’s Crayola Creativity Week drew more than 13 million participants from 122 countries. “This is a movement across the globe,” said Cheri Sterman, director of Crayola’s education division.

Celebrities who will be taking part in this year’s event include Drew and Jonathan Scott from the HGTV show Property Brothers, musician Questlove, soccer star Harry Kane, and conservationist Bindi Irwin. Each day’s lesson is approximately thirty minutes and features read-alongs from selected children’s books, as well as hands-on project demonstrations and a daily creative challenge using a downloadable and printable activity.

Post-event surveys suggest the program has a huge effect on student creativity, Sterman said. Eighty percent of the teachers and librarians who participate say they notice more curiosity, self-expression, and enthusiasm for learning among their students—and 70 percent say it helps them understand the importance of creativity within education. Fully 97 percent say they’re eager to take part again the following year.

Here’s a look at this year’s schedule of events:

Monday, Jan. 26: Following the theme of “Facing the Music,” artist and actor Kate Micucci will read the children’s book The Note Who Faced the Music, which reassures children that everyone has an important role to play when working as a team. The book’s illustrator, Mark Hoffman, will lead younger students in drawing music notes as characters who express emotions, and Micucci will help older students create an original design for a guitar face that can be entered into a contest to have a Martin guitar manufactured with their design.

Tuesday, Jan. 27: Under the theme “Building Together,” Property Brothers’ Drew and Jonathan Scott will read from their children’s book Builder Brothers: Big Plans, which helps children understand that things don’t always go as planned. Illustrator Kim Smith will then have kids adopt an innovator’s mindset to ponder, brainstorm, design, and improve upon projects.

Wednesday, Jan. 28: With the theme “Embracing Your Ideas,” musician and filmmaker Questlove will read his picture book The Idea in You, which encourages kids to find their own creative pursuits—and illustrator Sean Qualls will help students explore their imaginations.

Thursday, Jan. 29: Under the theme “Reaching Team Goals,” soccer players Harry Kane and Matt Turner will read from the book Let’s Play Soccer! by Ben Lerwill, and illustrator Marina Ruiz will lead creative exercises emphasizing teamwork.

Friday, Jan. 30: With the theme “Exploring the Moon,” NASA astronauts will read the book Shoot for the Moon, Snoopy! and talk about their experiences in space, and Snoopy illustrator Mary Valencia-Shyne will help students create original designs for a NASA mission patch and/or a zero-gravity indicator.

Saturday, Jan. 31: Following the theme “Empowering Communities,” actor Michael Rainey Jr. will share his personal story and read from the book A Quick History of Money: From Bartering to Bitcoin, and illustrator Rob Flowers will lead a creative exercise focused on financial literacy. 

Sunday, Feb. 1: Under the theme “Storytelling Adventures,” conservationist Bindi Irwin will read the book Bluey: The Creek, and Bluey artists Jasmine “Jazz” Moody and Nick Rees will take students behind the scenes of the TV show, show them the storyboarding process, and have them identify stories they can tell through their own art.

In addition, a live streaming event on Friday, Jan. 30, at 1 p.m. ET will get kids up and dancing with members of the Savannah Bananas exhibition baseball team.

How to take advantage

Registration for Crayola Creativity Week costs nothing, and schools and libraries don’t need any special materials to participate.

The activities, which are all aligned with content standards, are designed to be completed during a single class period with minimal prep time, and they include multiple versions aimed at different age groups. All the resources, including the live-streamed virtual assembly, will be archived for viewing any time on demand.

What’s more, Creativity Week participants are eligible to win various prizes from the program’s sponsors, including Crayola products, family engagement grants to cover the cost of community events, $4,500 from MFS for families to establish or contribute to a 529 Savings Plan, a four-day creative retreat from Horace Mann for educators to restore their creative energy, faculty lounge makeovers from Wal-Mart, and all-expenses-paid trips to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Participants must register separately for these sweepstakes giveaways to be eligible for prizes.

Participating educators and librarians can also earn extra chances to win prizes for their schools by posting students’ artwork and updates about their activities on social media using the hashtag #CrayolaCreativityWeek.

As part of the Creativity Week 2026 celebration, Crayola will be posting free resources that educators and librarians can use to spark creativity in their schools and communities year-round. These resources include a Family Engagement Guide with sample invitations, emails, and checklists to turn ideas into actual events; and a Creative Style Self-Assessment Tool, a five-minute survey that helps users understand how they think, perceive, and engage with the world. The self-assessment tool is “a great way to make sure you’re building a diverse creative team in your school or library,” Sterman said.

Because librarians are school-wide leaders, they play a pivotal role in leading Creativity Week activities in their communities.

To build awareness of the celebration’s events and help students get the most out of these activities, librarians can register their school to participate, share information with parents and colleagues, encourage teachers to take part, and order copies of the books featured in each day’s activities.

Although the books are read aloud as part of each day’s video lesson, Sterman said, “we know how children like to read these books for themselves once the Creativity Week activities have concluded.”
 

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