One of Hailey's favorite activities is to paint with watercolors. I can give her paper, a cup of water, a set of watercolors and she is set for a good half hour of fun. I know half an hour doesn't sound all that long, but if you have kids, you understand that an activity that keeps a small child's attention for that long is golden.
Today we spiced things up a bit. We used a white crayon to draw out a design, and then painted over it with watercolor and watched the design appear. I've seen this done many times elsewhere online, but we've never tried it. Today was the day!
I call it magic crayon art, and of course it really isn't magic. I totally wish I could perform actual magic, just like Harry Potter. (Don't we all?) It is a simple illusion, that seems so magical to children. As you paint over the crayon with the watercolor, the crayon resists the watercolor and becomes noticeable as the color fills up the paper around the crayon mark.
Start with a white crayon and a white piece of paper. Draw your design.
Can you see it in the picture below? I know, it's hard to see white on white. I thought I'd try.
Now wet your brush, grab some color, paint away and watch the design pop out.
Hailey had fun painting. She didn't completely get the idea of painting all over and seeing the white pop out. She was concerned with tracing over what she had drawn with crayon. She enjoyed herself, that's what really matters.
I love using thick paper for painting and watercolor. It holds up so much better. For this project, Hailey used a sketch pad that we pull out occasionally. Usually, when we paint we pull out our big coloring book from Melissa and Doug
. The paper is nice and thick and the pictures are big, so even the smallest kids can color in detail. I also like that it has a spot on each page for the child's name to encourage writing.
I love that this art project is so quick and easy to prepare! Spur of the moment, I wanted something fun to do with Hailey. I remembered seeing this idea, so we grabbed our supplies from the closet and just a couple of minutes later off we were creating! No real preparation needed, besides filling up a cup with water for the brush. Clean up is easy too.
Give it a try. I plan on making my own artwork with it too. :)
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