(Muah Ha ha. Insert crazy, crafter laughter here.)
Super Easy, Giant, Homemade Scratchboards!
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Today's post is part of a super fun storybook collaboration series. 9 kid-craft-loving bloggers are sharing fun crafts to go along with our favorite storybooks. My son and I really enjoy reading the Harold and the Purple Crayon Series
. When I envision being Harold, I imagine drawing and getting lost in big, HUGE, artwork. So this giant scratchboard craft is perfect!
. When I envision being Harold, I imagine drawing and getting lost in big, HUGE, artwork. So this giant scratchboard craft is perfect! Over the years, we've made quite a few homemade art materials... like
- Edible Tortilla Art
- Homemade Watercolor Paints
- Eggshell Chalk
- Corn Syrup Paint
- DIY Quill Pens (from straws!)
- Homemade Glow-in-the-dark chalk
- DIY Paint with Water Pages
- Candy Mosaics
- 2 Ingredient Body Paint
But I think this craft is one of my new favorites because it was so easy to make... and the results are pretty spectacular!
Here's how you can make a giant scratchboard of your very own!
You will need:
- Clear Contact Paper
- Craft Paint
- Dish Soap
- Paint Brushes
- Clear Sheet Protectors
- Masking Tape
- Containers to hold your paint
- Aluminum Foil
- Skewers
Let's make a Giant DIY Scratchboard!
1. Cover your work area.
2. Tape down your clear sheet protectors and your clear contact paper.
3. Mix your scratchboard paint by mixing craft paint and dish soap at a 2:1 ratio. So there should be about 2x the paint than soap. (I just eyeballed everything.)
4. Paint your clear sheet protectors and clear contact paper!
5. Let the first coat dry. Save any excess paint by covering it with aluminum foil. (Mine took about 4 hours to dry. So I did the first coat early in the night right after dinner.)
6. Once the first coat dries, paint your second coat. (This took another 3-4 hours to dry But I went to sleep before it was done and it was ready by morning!)
A couple of notes:
- See the rainbow scratch board I made? It looked beautiful, but the black one worked way better. Certain colors like red and purple worked nicely. But other colors were too light for the artwork to stand out. (You can see the results below.)
- For some reason our paint smelled like stinky socks. Not sure why.
7. Once your paint dries,stick your scratchboards on windows! I taped the sheet protectors up with masking tape and we removed the backing off of the contact paper. (The giant pieces weren't too hard to put up. We just pulled off the backing bit by bit and smoothed it to the window as we went along.)
Then, we took our skewers and doodled! Man oh man, was it FUN!
The clear sheet protectors and the contact paper gave different results. The clear sheet protectors gave thicker lines and the paint came off more easily. The contact paper resulted in thinner lines. (I think the paint must adhere differently to both types of plastic.)
Remember the rainbow scratchboard? Here's what that one looked like. It still worked, but as you can see the results weren't quite as dramatic as the black ones.
So I really, really hope you have fun trying this art activity out with your kids. It's super easy and so, so, fun to do!
More Storybook craft ideas:
- Pigeon Craft with Printable | A Little Pinch of Perfect
- A Color of His Own Activities | Artsy Momma
- Goldilicious Handprint Craft | Fun Handprint Art
- Where the Wild Things Are | Glued to My Crafts
- Rainbow Fish | I Heart Arts and Crafts
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Kids Craft | I Heart Crafty Things
- Dinosaur Roar Craft | In the Playroom
- Giraffes Can't Dance | Artsy Craftsy Mom
Let's keep in Contact!
