DLTK's Holiday Crafts for Kids
Painter's Tape Resist Cross Craft

This is an easy craft for any age that uses painter's tape to create a cross on white paper. Use a variety of techniques from fingerpainting to splatter art to create resist art that works great for Remembrance Day or Easter.

Materials:

• paper,
• painter's tape,
• paint of your choice (tempera, finger paint, watercolor paint, etc.)
  

Instructions:

• create a cross shape with painter's tape in the center of your paper. This may require adult assistance.
• Paint overtop of your paper and tape using whatever method you prefer. Some ideas include:
  • watercolor painting - you don't want to wet your paper too much so keep it a light wash of watercolor paint. If your paper gets too wet, it will bleed under the painter's tape.
  • splatter painting - use loose paint (watered down half and half -- tempera paint or other washable paint is my go to for this messy project, but wear old clothes!).
    • Splatter painting is best done outside on a sunny day.
    • Dip a paint brush, tooth brush or bottle brush into the paint. Flick the paint onto the paper or use a ruler to help create the splatter (run the ruler over the bristles of the brush).
    • Different tools make different patterns -- tooth brushes make a fine mist, whereas flicking a paintbrush makes bigger streaks and blobs.
    • Rotate your paper so you get splatters in all different directions.
    • You will get messy!
    • you can combine brush painting with a bit of splatter to really make the cross shape pop out.
  • fingerpainting (perfect for very young children) - use non toxic paint in one or two different colors and let children smear it around the page.
    • Once it's completely dry, an adult or babysitter can carefully peel off the painter's tape to reveal the cross underneath.
  • bingo dauber splotching - use one or two colors of bingo dauber and fill the page with bingo dauber splotches!
    • you might want to do a little bit of watercolor around the cross shape before you let the kids start the bingo daubers just to make sure the cross stands out.
  • sponge painting - use a dampened sea sponge and some loose paint (watered down tempera paint or acrylic paint works great! I usually water it down with equal parts paint and water).
    • I recommend dipping the sea sponge into two or three similar colors and then splotching it all over the paper, redipping infrequently.
    • The sponge loads with quite a bit of paint so you don't need to redip in the paint too often.
  • marble painting - use marbles and gravity to create unique pieces of art
    • use painter's tape to tape all around the edges of your paper inside the lid of a box (a printer paper box works great)
    • put 5 or 6 blobs of color on the cardboard (not the paper)
    • throw 3 to 6 marbles into the lid.
    • tip the lid every which way so the marbles run through the paint and onto the paper, creating tracks of paint. You can tip, jiggle and even gently bounce your marbles to create your design!
  • glow in the dark paint on white or black paper - I start with a sponge painted base of neon paint so it still looks nice in the daylight, let dry, then brush paint to cover in thin layers of glow in the dark paint.
    • I encourage you to display this in an area that gets lots of sunlight in the daytime -- that way your paint will charge and glow nicely at night!
  • and last but not least, just a simple watercolor painting overtop of the painter's tape cross to make a lovely pastel cross.
    • Don't use too much water near the cross or it might bleed under the masking tape.
    • You can use lots of water toward the edges of the page to make a nice flowing watercolor effect.
• If making this for Remembrance Day, you can add a few red poppies. This is best done after your base paint has dried so the red stays red and doesn't mix with the other colors.
• If making this for Easter, pastel or rainbow colors are nice.
• Let dry completely
• Carefully remove the painter's tape from the paper. This may require adult assistance.
  
  

 

Printable version of these instructions