This is a great activity to capture children's imaginations! This activity can be completed independently, or for younger children you can draw the oil pastel outline and your child can use watercolour paint to reveal your secret picture.

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Step 1: Draw the outline

Using white oil pastel on white paper, draw or trace your picture. This is tricky as it's hard to see!
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Step 2: Paint with watercolour

Once your picture outline is complete, apply watercolour paint to the paper. The oil pastel will resist the colour of the paint and reveal the picture that you have drawn.
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Step 3: Complete the painting

Continue to paint until your full picture is revealed!
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Other ideas

In the above example we have created a landscape, which requires a little bit of care to identify where the oil pastel outlines have been drawn. You can easily draw patterns instead and create a painting that is just as much fun and equally as beautiful! Alternatively, create a game where this technique is used to reveal secret clues - an alternative to invisible ink!
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