Crayola Creativity Week 2026: A Colorful, Free Celebration for Schools and Families

School parent groups have an exciting opportunity to raise awareness about a free creativity-focused event. The event is Crayola Creativity Week, and PTOs and PTAs can join teachers, principals, librarians, and families to bring this celebration to their school communities Jan. 26–Feb. 1, 2026.

Crayola Creativity Week is a turn-key educational program used by educators and parents worldwide that features planning guides, hands-on activities, engaging video lessons, and more, all designed to celebrate and encourage children’s creativity. Registration is free, and parent groups can get a jump on their schools’ participation by teaming up with school leaders and taking advantage of a treasure trove of free resources.

Now in its fifth year, Crayola Creativity Week continues to shine a spotlight on creativity not just as a mindset, but a set of skills that must be taught and nurtured.

“Creativity is a lifelong skill that helps everyone reach their full potential,” says Cheri Sterman, director of Crayola’s education division. “Teachers who bring creative experiences to their classroom say it really transforms the way they teach. Kids get that sparkle in their eye. And Creativity Week shows teachers and parents how they can so easily weave creative experiences into all areas of curriculum and school culture!”

Working with artists, actors, authors, musicians, athletes, astronauts, and like-minded organizations, Crayola designed this turn-key program for teachers and parents to boost creative experiences and thinking. Last year more than 13 million students from 45% of U.S. schools and 122 countries participated. This year promises to be even bigger, with exciting content by creators from TV, sports, and space! The Property Brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott, actor Michael Rainey, Jr., NASA astronauts, and football/soccer stars Harry Kane and Matt Turner are participating. Other notable names include conservationist Bindi Irwin, musician Questlove, artist and actress Kate Micucci, and illustrators from Bluey and Peanuts cartoons and books.

Free Resources

The materials Crayola produced for Creativity Week are aligned with global learning standards and are available to any teacher, library, and parent who signs up. Content and resources include:

• Five weekday creative adventures for classrooms and schools
• Two weekend days of creative adventures at home for parents
• One big virtual assembly on Friday, Jan. 30 for everyone who registers (parents included)
• Thinking Sheet activities (available in more than eight languages)
• Hands-on videos featuring celebrity creators
• Downloadable planning tips
• Customizable parent letters
• Supply lists
• Family Engagement Guide
• Learning Community Guide

What PTOs and PTAs Can Do

This is the kind of educational experience that probably fits your parent group mission seamlessly and one a leader dreams about! It’s free, it comes with lots of materials, it folds in parent involvement, it can include the entire school community, and, seriously, someone else has done most of the work for you. Your PTO or PTA can:

1. Build awareness by sharing the program’s information to their school decision makers. Often teachers or librarians will sign up, but the benefits of Creativity Week are greater when the entire school community—parents included—is involved.

2. Make sure classrooms have the basic supplies they’ll need, such as colored pencils, crayons, and markers. No special equipment is needed to participate in this program!

Your PTO can help teachers restock much-needed supplies ahead of January—think Crayola colored pencils, crayons, and markers (many of which are available in bulk!). Try a supply re-stock drive or tie it to Creativity Week to let parents know your school will be participating and these are some great products they can donate to their child’s classroom ahead of Crayola Creativity Week.

3. Communicate about the big livestream assembly scheduled for Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, with special celebrity guests. Use your social channels, newsletter, and word of mouth to tease the event and amp up your school community.

4. Talk up the at-home family engagement activities for Saturday and Sunday. Registered parents will receive an email with a link to the book read a-louds, video messages from celebrities, and a story telling activity that all parents will be comfortable doing with their children. And remind parents that they don’t have to be a Picasso to have a simple creative experience with their child.

If your parent group serves a Title I school, the Crayola Creativity Week program ticks all the boxes for mandated family engagement events—plus, it’s free! Team up with your principal and teachers to pair this program with a potluck night or other community meetup and use the activities and videos to accomplish your goal.

5. Spread the word about prizes and giveaways from Crayola and Creativity Week’s educational partners. The earlier parents, schools, and libraries sign up, the sooner they’re eligible for prizes in the weeks leading up to Creativity Week and for daily prizes during the week itself.

And they’re prizes your teachers and admins will love, including art supplies, books, musical instruments, technology, and more!

Why Teachers, Kids, and Parents Will Love It

Using post-Creativity Week surveys and through an over-arching Campaign for Creativity in collaboration with the Ad Council, Crayola is always researching creativity and its importance to a child’s future success. Based on teacher feedback, Creativity Week was built as an easy-to-implement program that provides a teacher’s guide for each day plus handouts. Daily lessons are about a half hour long, including videos and activities, and fit easily into a daily schedule for the week.

Teachers told Crayola that January would be the best time to hold Creativity Week. After winter break the program helps students come together and collaborate, and the experiences give them a confidence boost that lasts through standardized testing and beyond.

Teacher feedback also points out how important the literacy component of the program is to their classroom goals. According to Sterman, “Teachers tell us they love how we weave together visual literacy with the book read-a-louds and storytelling, because literacy is so essential to what we do in education.”

Crayola identified the importance of family engagement in boosting a child’s creativity and developed materials that parents can use to get creative with their kids on the weekend.

Creativity Week grew from a lot of myths parents have about what it means to be creative. In surveys, nine out of 10 parents say they believe creativity is important for their child to learn but they don’t personally feel creative enough themselves that they can nurture their child’s creativity.

“A lot of adults think creativity is something that a few people are born with; the ‘you have it or you don’t’ myth, and it’s just not true,” Sterman says. “Everyone is creative in their own way. What’s exciting is that research shows when children have more creative experiences at home and in school when they’re young, they develop that creative confidence and throughout their lives they reach higher levels of educational achievement, and they have more job satisfaction than people who did not grow up with creative experiences in childhood.”

In essence, says Sterman, Creativity Week helps “plant a seed. We show a simple creative moment, that doesn’t take a lot of planning, and it doesn’t cost a lot of money to buy a lot of supplies. You can have simple creative moments that have a lasting impact.”

Long-Lasting Benefits

Crayola works closely with Dr. Gerard Puccio, the chair for the Center of Applied Imagination at the University of Buffalo. Puccio has documented how creativity develops resilience and flexibility, both necessary skills needed in STEM and STEAM careers.

His research also shows how creativity develops openness, problem solving abilities, and overall confidence. And creative expression helps build social and emotional skills, relationships and connections, and overall well-being.

Crayola’s post-Creativity Week surveys tell a positive story about the importance of adding creative experiences in the classroom and at home:

• Eight out of 10 students have increased enthusiasm for learning, curiosity, and self-expression, and teachers say they see these boosts last throughout the rest of the school year.
• 70% of teachers say they now have an increased understanding of the importance of creativity on learning.
• 76% say it lifted the atmosphere or the climate of their classroom to be more joyous and collaborative.
• 70% of teachers are now seeking out additional creative experiences to weave into their regular curriculum content.
• Teachers and parents saw an increase in family engagement.
• 97% of the educators who responded plan to participate again in the upcoming Creativity Week.

The 2026 Lineup

Here’s a peek at some of the celebrity creators taking part:

NASA believes creativity is essential for the future of space exploration, and partners with Crayola for Creativity Week every year. This year, students will hear from NASA astronauts who share their experiences in space exploration.

Drew and Johnathan Scott, aka the Property Brothers and Builder Brothers, will talk about their creative childhoods and read their newest book.

Professional football/soccer players Harry Kane and Matt Turner will talk about how creative and strategic thinking makes all the difference on the pitch.

Actor Michael Rainey, Jr., is passionate about building kids’ financial literacy and helping them invest in their futures.

Registration Is Open

The earlier parents, schools, and libraries sign up for Creativity Week, the sooner they can start planning their celebrations. Crayola’s materials, like the family engagement guide and the community engagement guide, plus content on the educational partners’ websites, make planning and executing the lessons a snap.