Crayons are the original children's art supply - they can be found in nearly every elementary classroom nationwide. Because of the crayon's reputation as a somewhat basic, elementary medium, they often get left behind when students move on to middle and high school. Below, I've outlined a few crayon projects that can be adapted across grade levels.
A Few Crayon Options
Crayola: the classic crayon and the best! This box of 48 colors comes with a range of bright hues with strong opacity. This year, after consulting with diversity and inclusion experts, Crayola has updated its range of skin tone crayons.
Beyond the Crayola brand, these student grade thick crayons are less prone to breakage, and their larger size may be easier for smaller hands to grasp.
These wrapper-less crayons are great for texture rubbings and relief printing projects.
The crayon can be a difficult tool to manipulate. With a light hand, it is possible to layer and blend colors, but the waxy nature of the material makes this somewhat difficult. Crayons are most successfully used as a drawing tool in their pure color form. I've listed a few projects here that combine crayons with other media to capitalize on their texture and bright hues.
As a Complement to Watercolor Painting
Here, black crayon was used as a high contrast outline for a watercolor painting.
After the paint had dried, I added detail with more crayon colors.
Crayon Resist
First I drew with white crayon on white paper. Watercolor painted over the crayon resists the wax, highlighting the white areas. This project could be designed to include the design concept of negative space.
Scratch Art
From left: Pencil drawing on thick paper; heavy crayon cover; strong, indented pencil outline.
This project begins as pencil drawing on thick paper (I used Bristol, but illustration board is a great option as it won't curl when ink is layered on top.) A layer of thick crayon covers the entire paper. Then, the drawing is heavily outlined with indented pencil. This allows the different sections to be visible after the surfaces is covered with ink. This project could be also work without the outline, with the covered crayon acting as a background for a freehand scratch drawing.
From left, a first layer of India ink, and a second layer with watered down tempera.
There are two ways to create the scratch-off surface. Ink will require several layers to completely cover the colored areas. Watered down tempera will cover and dry faster, but be sure the consistency is right. Thick paint will crack and flake off when it's time to scratch the design. Here, I used black Crayola tempera paint mixed with a little bit of water.
It's important to use the right kind of ink if you go that route. India ink has a shellac binder, so it will stick to the crayon. Sumi ink - largely used for calligraphy projects - is made with vegetable oil, so it will resist sticking to a waxy substance like crayon. I used Winsor & Newton India ink (which has a great bottle design!) but there are larger, more economical bottles available from other brands.
Scratching Tools
An X-acto knife will allow for fine detail, but this is potentially only appropriate for high school students, due to safety risks.
Here, I used a paper clip as a scratching tool, an obviously safer option than an X-acto knife. Popsicle sticks or chopsticks would work for younger students doing less detailed work.
Elements of detail can elevate this project for upper grade levels. Here's a scratch art piece that I made as a high school junior. The project was meant to be an illustration of environmental issues, and I chose the whaling industry. Each section of the drawing had to include a unique pattern.
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