Write Secret Messages

What You Need:

• White construction paper
• White wax crayons
• Newspaper
• Water soluble paint (tempera paint or watercolor paint) 

What You Do:

1. Draw a simple image on the white construction paper with the white crayon and write a few simple words.
2. Tell your child that the ‘blank’ piece of paper is magic!
3. Lay down some newspaper in the painting area and ask her to paint over the paper with her favorite colour. Can she see the image? What is it? Can she identify any letters?
4. To commend her excellent detective work, let her in on the secret and ask her to do her own ‘magic drawings.’
5. See if she can guess how the ‘magic’ works. Explain how the waxy crayon puts a ‘paint-proof’ layer of wax on the paper. So when the paint is applied, the areas that have been drawn on are blank!

Variations:

• This is a great way to exchange ‘secret’ drawings and notes with friends who are in the know!
• Let your child make a secret birthday card for a friend. Deliver the card with instructions on how to reveal the hidden message!
• Play the ‘Invisible Alphabet Game’ with your child! Draw a letter of the alphabet with the white crayon on the white paper and see if your child can guess the letter you have written. Was she right? All she has to do is paint over the letter to see! If your child can read, you can play this game using words instead of letters.