Watercolor & Oil Pastel Batik

For our watercolor week in the 1s/2s class I was planning for an ice painting and oil pastel resist project like we did in the mixed age class. Before class began I came across some extra fabric lying around and decided to experiment with an oil pastel and watercolor batik instead. I taped the fabric to a tray so that it wouldn't move around when the kids tried to draw on it. I first offered them white oil pastels to use on white cotton fabric, which is not at all exciting to toddlers (even when I tried to explain that they would magically see their drawing appear when they painted it). Here, a big sister demonstrates the first step.

 After a very brief drawing experience, I offered the kids liquid watercolor to paint onto their work.

 Even with the light pressure of a toddler, the oil pastel still showed up and resisted the watercolor, creating a batik effect.

After trying out the batiks, I finally brought out the ice painting project-  offering them colorful oil pastels, watercolor ice paints and paper.

Eventually the kids began to collect items from the shelf to use in their paintings.

 A fun day of watercolor experiments!