Magic Mystery Painting

Magic Mystery Painting | Mama Papa Bubba

With Sam not feeling well earlier today, we decided to spend our afternoon close to home and out of the sun.  I love setting little play invitations out for the kids to discover after school, but since I hadn’t gotten a chance to set something up during nap time, I quickly pulled together a classic while Grae and Sam devoured their afternoon snacks…  Magic mystery painting!  {An absolute childhood classic if you’re old like me – hah!}

Magic Mystery Painting

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Now I have to preface this all with the fact that I wasn’t planning on sharing any of this here, so didn’t pull out my big camera like I should have… hence the cell phone photos. Not ideal, but meh.

Here’s what you’ll need:

* Other thick, absorbent papers will work too, but watercolour paper can soak up a ton of paint without sogging up and ripping and it dries flat.

** Any type will do, but we love our Sax liquid watercolours and I think they’re PERFECT for this project…  They make it super easy for little ones to get a brush full of paint (just dip and go) and they’re super washable.  We used just a few drops of liquid watercolours diluted in small cups of water.

Magic Mystery Painting

Okay, so here’s how easy this is…  First, use the white pastel to draw simple pictures, lines, and designs all over your watercolour paper. Two things to keep in mind…  1) Solid, thick pastel lines make for the best end result, so be sure to use lots of pressure when drawing and 2) your kiddos don’t care what your drawings look like whatsoever, so don’t let the fact that “you can’t draw” stop you from doing this…  Just really go for it!

Magic Mystery Painting

Here’s how I set it out for Grae and Sam…  My white pastel drawings on a giant page of watercolour paper, plus little jars of Sax liquid watercolours diluted in water right on top.  Oh, and paintbrushes too, of course!

Magic Mystery Painting

I had already told Grae and Sam that this activity involved something magical / mysterious, so they wasted no time getting to painting once I told them it was ready to go.

Magic Mystery Painting

And they were totally wowed. (Even though Miss G’s done this loads of times…  The resist part is fun, but it’s uncovering the hidden drawings that makes this activity so fun and engaging.)

Magic Mystery Painting

Part way through they decided that they’d try to paint the entire surface so as not to miss a single drawing or design, which I thought was very clever!

Magic Mystery Painting

When they were mostly done, I encouraged them to go in and add more paint – a) because the paper can handle it and b) because it allowed them to explore colour mixing.

Magic Mystery Painting

Isn’t their piece beautiful?!  Plus, when you have kiddos with a 5-year age gap, the very best thing is finding activities they both enjoy and can do alongside one another.

Magic Mystery Painting

When they were done with the first one, Miss G asked if she could create a second one full of things Sam loves…  And I mean, how can you say no to that, right?  So while she worked on her version, Sam whipped her up a snack of toast, carrot, ice cream, and pancake. 

Magic Mystery Painting

Then it was back to work!

Magic Mystery Painting

Here’s the one G made…  Isn’t it the sweetest?  Complete with all of the things Sam loves – fire engines, food, and Blippi, plus his name and his age.

Magic Mystery Painting Activity | Mama Papa Bubba

 

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