DIY Scratch Pad Craft

             Hey folks! I've always loved art and am so glad Myka enjoys it too! Hubby and I were recently talking about those rainbow scratch pads (not sure if that's what they're called, but these things) and we both remembered making our own in art class in school. We had slightly different ways of making them, but mine sounded slightly easier and less time consuming, so we tried it out again the other day for funsies. (Plus we figured Myka might like making them with us!)

What You'll Need:

-printer paper

-crayons (the bright, basic colors seem to work best)

-black tempera or acrylic paint

-a pencil or other pointed implement to scratch with (I used scissors)

*First you'll need to color your entire sheet of paper. You can do this however you like, of course, but we thought it looked neater with the basic, bright colors in diagonal lines. The first one we tried (the birthday one below) we used Myka's big box of crayons with all the crazy colors going every which way and some of them just didn't show up that well. I think you'll find your design is more colorful by doing diagonals too.

*Once you're finished coloring, paint your entire page with black tempera or acrylic paint. Make sure you get a nice, even coating, but don't use too much! We used acrylic for ours because we don't believe in tempera paints in this household (I've never liked them, for whatever reason. Ha ha), but I think we probably used tempera paints to make these in school. (Hey, elementary school was a LONG time ago!) Acrylics seem to work ok as far as the scratching goes, but tempera might be easier. They just take longer to dry than acrylics. (FYI if you have impatient kids!)

I did mess with the color saturation on this picture so you could see the difference better.

*Let the paint dry completely and scratch away! (I used scissors to scratch with for these examples, but I'm sure you can find something safer for kids! ha!)

             Myka hasn't really wanted to scratch any drawings on the finished products for whatever reason, but this is a fun art project even for little kids since they can help make it too. :) Plus, the worst part is waiting for the paint to dry. Other than that, it's relative quick and easy to make!