Wax Resist Painting

My children and their friends love experiencing wax resist painting. It is such a simple activity to set up for them, and the results are instant and satisfying. All you need is a handful of wax crayons and an ink wash to paint over the top (I used edicol dye powder and water, but if you don't have access to that food colouring drops mixed with water is also fine).

Today the little ones were drawing with white and pale yellow crayons- almost blindly, when they added the ink wash they were excited and surprised to see their image magically appear.

invisible drawing

We did a variation of wax resist drawings with a candle (we used a tea-light) rather than coloured wax crayons. It added a element of excitement to the activity as Finn couldn't see what he was drawing, but could feel his way around the page and envisage his drawing. I then gave him some watercolour paints and he magically revealed his drawing. A strong even colour using an ink based wash (made from food colouring or edicol dye) would have been more effective in hindsight. 

Finn and I also created  secret messages and drawings for each other. After swapping, we painted over the paper to see what we received.

Wax Resist Christmas Stars

I found these little wooden stars in a craft shop (but even better would be to ask your child to draw their own stars, or you make them for them out of thick card). 

We used Wax Resist painting techniques- when you draw use wax crayon, then paint over the top with a water based paint. The paint is repelled by the wax creating interesting effects. This effect isn't obvious on the wooden base we used, but they look pretty non the less. 

We crudely attached masking tape and string to the back to hang them on the tree.