About Kaleidoscope
Kaleidoscope is a free art-making space for kids and their accompanying adults. Located in Crown Center in downtown Kansas City, Kaleidoscope is Hallmark’s gift to kids and families.
During each 50-minute studio session, kids are invited to explore and create in an open-ended way. Using materials leftover from Hallmark’s manufacturing processes (all sorts of paper, stickers, ribbon, and more), Crayola supplies (crayons, markers, paint), and their own vivid imaginations, kids are empowered to have their own creative experiences. There’s no expected outcome, and all ideas and interpretations are welcome. The possibilities are endless.
- Don Hall, son of Hallmark’s founder J.C. Hall, conceived of Kaleidoscope as a place where kids could freely and imaginatively create – connecting perfectly with Hallmark’s mission of helping people express themselves.
- First launched as a traveling exhibit in 1969, the Kaleidoscope art studio unfolded from two colorful semi-trucks, and kids climbed aboard to create their own art. During its 35-year run, this traveling exhibit visited 12 cities across the country each year, inspiring two-and-a-half million children!
- Kaleidoscope settled into its permanent location in Hallmark’s Crown Center in 1975, where it’s been ever since. Over the decades, it’s become a multigenerational tradition, with parents who enjoyed Kaleidoscope when they were kids now making sure their own kids get to experience that same fun.
- Kaleidoscope’s appearance and exhibits have changed over the years, yet its purpose and philosophy have remained the same: to inspire creativity and spark imagination in an open-ended environment.
- Since Kaleidoscope’s beginning, materials discarded in manufacturing Hallmark products have been recycled into art projects, with all Hallmark plants contributing their cast-offs.
- As part of the Hallmark family of brands, Crayola provides the art supplies in the studio….and a lot of them! We go through approximately 10,000 markers each year!
