Kids Watercolor Crayon Project Fun & Easy
Water-Soluble Crayons
Watercolor Crayons Are So Much Fun!
By Spramani Elaun
I love teaching kids how to use this medium in my art classes.
Recently I travel to Philadelphia for a conference and demonstrated how to use some art supplies to close to 4,000 teachers. Watercolor crayons was the top five most popular product teachers loved.
I demonstrated to k-6 teachers just how easy and fun watercolor crayons could be and how to spark-up art projects using these awesome crayons.
What is a watercolor crayon?
A watercolor crayon looks just like a regular wax crayon but does something magical kids are amazed by, turns into watercolor paint.
Watercolor crayons are a water-soluble product that dissolves when water is washed over them, unlike a regular crayon.
Easy for kids to use because the wax and pigments are soft and glides smoothly over paper surfaces without hard pressure.
These crayons have high pigment concentration which is bright and brilliant similar to an oil pastel.
Watercolor crayons are manufactured with a special binder that allows pigments to dissolve and break down when water comes into contact.
After being washed over with water the bright pigments become transparent similar to watercolor paint.
Pigments become luminous and see through.
Selected brands are safe for kids to use and also come certified non-toxic.
Why I love introducing watercolor crayons to kids!
Young kids love to doodle and draw with these special crayons because it’s not difficult to learn to use them.
Kids can jump right into doodling and drawing just like they do with regular crayons.
Doodling with watercolor crayons is easy.
All kids love painting, so using this medium is exciting knowing painting will come next after making simple doodle marks.
Almost all ages can do this, I’ve introduced this idea to very young doodlers.
Painting with watercolor crayons is easy to set-up and manage the mess.
Watercolor crayons are typically half the length of a normal pencil and easy to hold.
Children with hand disabilities also find them easy to use.
Kids draw with a watercolor crayon just like a pencil or regular crayon.
It’s easy to lay down lots of color because these types of crayons are soft and tips are broad.
Easy as 1,2,3 doodle, wet and paint!
Watercolor Crayons Easy for kids to use!
Art Teacher Painting Advice
In my experience teaching young children how to watercolor paint takes long to learn and master.
Working with watercolor crayons has helped me give young children confidence to try watercolor type paint projects.
Here’s why:
Every child is familiar with doodling and drawing and has had plenty of experience doing this with a regular crayon or pencil.
Kids can also quickly make a recognizable images easy with a watercolor crayon.
Making images with a paintbrush alone is not as easy.
It takes time to teach painting skills to young children.
When a child doodles with a watercolor crayon then applies a wet paintbrush it becomes easy to understand watercolor painting ideas.
It’s easy for kids to doodle a picture quickly from their imagination with a crayon, but difficult with a paintbrush without lots of experience.
Watercolor painting takes years to fully master, but painting with watercolor crayons can help children learn skills quicker with good practice.
In my painting classes some kids will give up and get frustrated with watercolor paints because it’s hard to make clear images at first.
Introducing this medium has been a wonderful way to introduce watercolor painting techniques.
When older kids get more advance and want fine lines then I recommend transitioning to watercolor pencils, which have a finer tip and give more precision.
Setting-up a watercolor crayon painting station
What you will need:
• Watercolor Crayons – safe non-toxic
• Paint Brushes – small to medium size
• Water – in a cup, jar or artist palette
• Napkins
Tip: I recommend peeling off labels on watercolor crayons. I usually also cut them in half so more students can use them at the same time.
Order Watercolor Crayons & Supplies Here!
Moon & Twinkle Stars
Here is some fun images to make.
This mix-media wax resist moon and stars was made with both watercolor crayons and plain crayons.
I made twinkle stars with a plain white crayon, then the moon with a plain yellow crayon, last I colored the whole image over with a black watercolor crayon, then painted over with water brush strokes.
Cooling Star
Here’s a new project I made up called the cooling star!
Combining science and art to teach kids about stars cooling in the sky.
Use ice cubes instead of a paint brush, however you can still do this with a paint brush if ice cubes are not an option.
Using ice cubes helps kids understand stars are cooling and have a life cycle.
I made doodle twinkle stars with a yellow, orange and a red watercolor crayon, then used dark blue around the star to represent the sky.
We turned our twinkly star image into a watercolor painting by circling a ice cube around the cooling star.
The ice cubes finally melted and dissolved the pigments turning our image into a watercolor painting!
I love this painting made by a very young toddler!
This young student just learned how to pick up a crayon and make marks. He was a quick learner dipping a wet paint brush over his doodles and making a watercolor painting.
Try watercolor crayons, its so much fun!
Read more about how to pick paints for kids art projects here!
Spramani Elaun is an American art teacher and the author of Nurturing Children In The Visual Arts Naturally© 2014 and Clay Play® 2015.
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