Kids can create beautiful handmade Thank You cards using a wax resist art technique. A white crayon and some watercolour paints are all you’ll need!
Crayon resist (or wax resist) is a really cool art project for kids of all ages and it’s one of those fun science activities that kids of all ages love. Toddlers and preschoolers can easily do it, and even adults will have fun with a crayon resist project.
What is Wax Resist Art?
You’ve likely seen this process before. Resist Art is a process in which you use two materials which resist or repel each other to create a piece of art. We’re using a white crayon and water colours to create our art today, but you could use a wax candle in place of the crayon.
Now, we’ve used crayons to make some pretty cool art in the past, like our “Starry Night” melted crayon art, for example.
Believe it or not though, this was our first time experimenting with crayons for a wax resist project, so I’m pretty excited to share it with you.
What mediums can you use to create Resist Art?
Dilly Dali Art made some awesome “initial art” for the girls’ rooms by melting coloured crayons over tape.
Mommy Labs is making some unique pillow covers using markers, tape and fabric .
And Inspiration Laboratories wrote a secret message and made some 3-D art with paint and glue.
Like I said, we’re using watercolours and a white crayon to make our thank you cards today. The process is easy, and the supply list is short.
Supplies for creating our handmade thank you cards:
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- Watercolour paints
(we used Liquid Watercolors)
- white crayon
- watercolour paper, white card stock or blank gift cards
(I pick these up at Michael’s when they’re on sale)
- paintbrushes
- small cups or ice cube tray
And now for the fun part!
It’s easy to make art with a white crayon and paint:
We made a total of 4 cards today. I got 2 cards out of one piece of white 8.5 x 11 card stock. I simply cut the card stock in half to get two pieces. Fold those pieces in half, and voila… two cards.
Now take your white crayon, and draw an image or write your words on your white paper. You won’t really be able to see what you’re writing because of the white-on-white, which might make it a little challenging, but don’t worry about being perfect here. The end result will be beautiful no matter what.
Once my message was written, I added a couple of drops of each liquid watercolour into the sections of an ice cube tray. I filled a couple of sections with water for the hooligans to wet and rinse their brushes in.
They dipped their brushes in the water and then in the watercolour, and then swiped them over the front of the card to reveal the message that I’d written! How fun! I can’t believe we waited this long to try resist painting! It’s such a fascinating art process for kids of all ages, it’s easy to set up, and the results are beautiful!
You can use this process to send secret messages to people too! Check out these hidden message Valentine’s by Crafts by Amanda!
And even easier, there are these printable Thank You card by Today’s Creative Life.
More Easy Art for Kids:
Bottle Top Stained Glass Painting
and be sure to check out our easy recipe for Homemade Watercolour Paints!
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
Rashmie Jaaju
Hi Jackie, thank you for the link love 🙂 and Happy New Year, my friend. it’s been such a long time. I’ve been off the blog for the past few months – pregnancy, travel etc. and eventually the little girl who’s come in my life! She’s two months old now and am totally loving this phase although it gets tiring as well…
As I saw the pingback in my inbox today, I so felt like connecting with you. Best wishes, love and hugs…
Rashmie
rebecca at thisfineday
Love this! What a great way to get the kiddos into writing thank you notes and showing gratitude. It’s been slow going over here with the thank you note writing. I’m going to have to work this in 🙂 Thanks for the idea.
Jo Todd
Love your crafts. Well done and keep it up. If people don’t have a white crayon you can also use a wax candle.
Nancy Aidinian
Good idea!
Bek @ Just For Daisy
We did this a few months back when Miss Daisy broke her leg and was receiving lots of lovely things. We made our thank you’s using a tea light candle and watercolours! 🙂 Lots of fun!
Gude @HodgePodgeCraft
I love these! Really beautiful & so simple 🙂
Ana
These are beautiful!
Kim Hainline
So cute and easy! Think I’ll try this with my kids today. We’re still snowed in!
sineamarie
I love this! Another great idea for my preschool class. Keep em coming Jackie!
Sinea from Ducks ‘n a Row
Lisa
Did this with my crew today – well the “big” ones :). Loved it! So fun and easy!
We have done quite a few of your crafts, love them all!
happyhooligans
Glad you guys liked it, Lisa! I’ve become a little obsessed with the process myself. It’s safe to assume you’ll see more crayon resist posts from me in the next little while. 🙂
Yvette
I Love this ………… so cute………….Awesome……..Much Mahalo for all your wonderful and awesome ideas.
Hannah
Does it have to be watercolors or will different paint work?
happyhooligans
I’ve only tried it with the watercolours, Hannah. I’m not sure if oil or acrylics will resist the wax. Did you try googling it to see?
Vicky @ Mess For Less
Love how each is different and original!
Samantha @ Stir the Wonder
What beautiful cards! You have such great little artists there! Thanks for linking up with the Hands-On Play Party!
Stephanie Whittle
Always looking for something else to do with my liquid watercolors!! Thanks for sharing at After School!
Jill
I love this idea. It is creative, inexpensive and the result is stunning.
Thank you for stopping by the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop this week. We hope to see you drop by our neck of the woods next week!
Danya Banya
They turned out brilliantly!
happyhooligans
Thank you, Dayna!
Jill
I really love this idea. I am thinking of trying this method for Valentine’s Day cards.
Thank you for stopping by the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop this week. We hope to see you drop by our neck of the woods next week!
maryanne @ mama smiles
I love this idea!!! Pinned to my “For kids to make for other board” and planning to feature tomorrow. Thanks for linking this up to the Afterschool party this week!
Elizabeth
Hannah , we did this with watered down acrylics. They worked, but I had to “polish” them by wiping off the dried paint from the resist letters and it was not as brilliant of a “resist”. Stick with nice, dilute watercolors if you can, better result for sure. My little fellow loved it tho, thanks for the great idea!
Cheryl Geiger
We combined Crayon Resist with Milk Art and the results were fantastic. 1. Create a “card” as above from watercolor paper but don’t fold it. 2. Write a message or draw a design with white crayon on the right-hand side of the paper. 3. Create some milk art – http://flutterflutter.ca/2012/03/17/spring-break-diy-milk-art/ 4. Gently lay your Crayon Resist “card” face down over the Milk Art and carefully lift it from the milk. The Milk Art design will transfer to the paper leaving the crayon message visible. 5. Let it dry and fold paper in half to create a card. 6. We mounted a photo inside with a Mother’s Day Greeting.
Did this with my 3-year old granddaughter and she was sooooo proud of her creation.
mummabw
Love this, can’t wait to try it out – I really can’t wait to see the reaction of my 3 year old to the image I will have drawn in white that he won’t know about! Very cool!!
Rebecca Smith
I have tried this twice now, and it’s not working for me. What am I doing wrong? My message isn’t showing up or barely dies. I even colored extra layers of crayon this time. Help!
happyhooligans
I’m not sure, Rebecca. Maybe it’s the brand of crayon? Wax repels water, so as long as you’re using wax crayons and water-based paint, it should work. Sorry – I’m kind of stumped!
Erica
Cute idea! I think I’m going to try this with my toddler, but to be more efficient (we have 20-30 cards to make), I might just do one or two designs and color copy it several times. 🙂
happyhooligans
Great idea, Erica!
Laura
Just tried this activity with liquid watercolors and I find the colors all sort of mix together on the paper to create brown. Do u know how to remedy this?
happyhooligans
Certain colours, when mixed together will create brown (i.e. red and green, blue and orange). To prevent that from happening, you can stick with colours in the same colour family i.e. red, yellow, pink, orange, or blue, purple, green, turquoise etc.
Coronavirus Moms
Hi!
These cards are so cute and easy to make!! The kiddos and I decided these would be great to make for our local healthcare workers and as a an art class during these e-learning days!