Magic Words Thank You Cards

So although the holidays are over, we're definitely still working on creating our thank you cards and getting them out in the mail. And while this trick may seem magic to kids, I love how simple it was to create these cards.

Magic Words Thank You Cards

Our kiddos were really blessed to receive a lot of wonderful gifts from friends and family over the holidays, and I want to try an instill in them the idea that we send thank you cards in appreciation. Last year we created our Potato Print Snowmen Cards. This year I was looking to create something both boys could help with, despite their age differences. This watercolor idea was simple enough for both a toddler and a preschooler to work on. 

Materials: 

watercolors

white crayons/white cray pas (we tried both)

white drawing paper

colored card stock

white glue stick

Before painting I cut the white drawing paper into 3.5 x 5 inch rectangles and I cut the colored card stock into 5.5 x 8 inch rectangles. I also set each kiddo up with their own painting station: water, paintbrushes, and watercolors. 

On the white rectangles I wrote the words "Thank You" with white crayon or cray pas. (We tried both, both worked about the same.) When Big Brother came in he knew he could see something on the paper, but he couldn't see what it was. 

Then the boys began to paint. 

They painted wherever they wanted and whatever colors they wanted on the paper, but as they painted the words would show up. 

The trick is that the water is repelled by the wax in the crayons, so the words show through. (We did find that if you put on a little too much paint the words would get a little harder to see. It worked a little better to just do a few quick strokes.) 

The boys created quite a few pieces of painted cards in several different colors. We let them dry and then pressed them flat for a few days under a heavy cookbook.  

Afterwards we glued them to the card stock using a small white glue stick. Now they were ready to write in and send! 

We definitely like how simple and pretty they were to create!