In the activity "Art with Auntie" I gave you ideas about structuring your art creation area, and the basics of the artistic development of young children. Now you are ready for some projects!

Coloring with crayons or colored pencils on different types of paper is a great project. Please try and avoid using magic markers. Although instant gratification is sometimes preferred, markers do not allow children to explore any of their fine motor skills. If they press soft or hard, the children make the same line with a marker. Crayons, pastels, colored pencils, and other drawing materials allow for a multitude of lines and marks on a page.

Another recommendation is to use construction or heavy bond drawing paper if possible instead of copy paper. It will be stronger and more durable as the children start to work.

Here’s a fun alternative to basic coloring:

Find an open space on a table. Cover it with newspaper to protect the area and for ease of cleanup.

Color with your niece or nephew on a piece of paper with crayons or colored pencils. Make sure that every part of the page is covered with blocks of colors. The image does not have to be representational. The goal is to make sure that the page is as vibrant as possible.

Next, using black crayons, cover the entire page with a single smooth layer of black. The more uniform the black color is, the cooler the final effect will be.

Then, using something pointy, like a mechanical pencil with no lead, a ball point pen without the ink tip extended, or a pen cap, you and the children can make marks on the black image. Little by little, the blocks of colored crayon or pencil will peek through the black crayon. The effect will be really impressive, to young and old alike!

Be careful, this project gets messy once you start scratching away the black layer. Make sure that you are working on a covered or open surface so nothing nearby gets affected.

Variation:  Encourage the children to draw with crayons on a piece of paper – a representational picture or a design. There is no need to cover the whole page. And then, using watercolor paints, paint over the crayon. The crayon-covered spots will resist the watercolor while the rest of the page is filled in. It creates a very cool result.