[DAY 3: Scratch Art]

My family and I recently checked out the open house for The Art School of Peterborough.  We saw an ad in the newspaper re: art classes for tots.  How could we not enroll her?  The studio areas are clean, the instructors are friendly and she would be surrounded by artists who focus in different mediums.  Another bonus: she gets to be around kids her age.  More experience before she starts kindergarten in September.

Unfortunately, she missed her second class because of our fam getaway, so she was given homework.  For our 3rd project, Leilani and I are going to create a landscape image using the scratch art technique.

-acrylic paint, black
-dish soap
-plastic tray
-paintbrush (I recommend a wide, flat brush)
-oil pastels or crayons
-cardstock (I recommend watercolour paper if you have)
-skewer or sharp stick


COLOUR!!!  Colour like you are crazy!  You don't need to be neat.  Grab a pastel and scribble.  The goal is the cover the entire surface with colour.  Before Leilani could use another colour, she had to tell me what it was.  Then she practiced drawing shapes.  Kids love making circles!  Since the coloured background won't be seen, you can draw anything.  Free drawing time!  IDEA: To match a child's room that is filled with green items, use only shades of green pastels to colour your cardstock.  


TIP: Mix the paint after you're done colouring because sometimes the little ones take a while to finish the base.  Now it's time to make your paint scratch-able.  Acrylic paint is able to be removed smoothly by adding soap.  We used a clear dish soap.  I don't know if coloured soap alters the colour of your paint if you were to use a lighter paint colour.  That's an experiment for you to try!  1:1  That was our ratio.  One part paint to one part soap.  In the words of Leilani, "Time to mix mix.  Mix it aaaallllll up."


You also do not need to be neat when you start painting over the coloured base.  I could not leave it uneven or messy, so I helped smooth it out.  Leilani painted the first base.  Your table surface will get messy and so may your child.  It's all part of the fun!  You will need two coats of your soapy paint.  You can see the difference between one and two coats above.  And no, you do not need to wait for the first layer to dry before applying the second coat.  TIP: To ensure a smooth, even top coat, first load up your brush with paint.  Then dab a few globs of paint onto the cardstock.  Using the SIDE of the flat, wide brush (as recommended), smooth out the paint using long strokes until the entire surface is covered and no colour can be seen through.  
See all those bumpy things in the paint?  Those were little chunks of dried paint that came from the paint bottle.  Those little chunks will easily come off when dried, so try to remove them if you don't want blemishes.  Leilani and I didn't care about precision in her drawing, so it was okay if a few spots came out.
TICK TOCK.  I started this project before lunch.  It didn't air dry until dinner time.  TIP: Use a hair drying if you want it to dry faster.

Uummmm...what's a landscape?  Her homework was to scratch out a landscape.  Leilani didn't know what the term 'landscape' meant, so we went through our library and pulled out our 'Rainforest' book.  I showed her examples of landscapes.  Waterfall!!!  It was our mini lesson of the day.  :)
SCRATCH!  It's time to finally scratch!  By holding the skewer near the base, you have more control and it's less likely to break.  If you don't press hard enough, you just scratch the paint.  The goal is to REMOVE the black paint.  If it's too difficult for your child to break through the paint, guide her hand with yours and put pressure.  Once your child finds a project too difficult, she'll stop.  It's our job to calm them down, show them how to do it by example, then leave them be.  That's what I had to do with Leilani.

Landscape, Leilani and mommy-style.


Tidy up time.
The paint needs to go somewhere.  When you scratch to remove the paint, your work surface will get dirty.  As a parent, it's great to take part in their art projects.  As a child, it's great to take part in cleaning up.  I put my daughter to work and she held that vacuum like a boss!

@100ArtfulDays is a blog and Instagram series dedicated to the shared love of crafting between my daughter and I.  We will focus on collaborative art projects that will further develop my daughter's fine motor, problem solving, speaking, and communication skills, improve her patience, learn and apply colour theory, and encourage her creative spirit.