DIY Scratch Art

AGE RANGE:  PROJECT SHOULD BE EASILY ACCOMPLISHED BY AGES 4 AND UP WITH HELP FROM PARENT OR GUARDIAN

APPROXIMATE TIME: 30 MINUTES TO 1 HOUR

Get crafty with your kids and take coloring to the next level! Create your own scratch art sheet, a favorite craft of many growing up, and learning to examine the dark parts of an image be removing color to create an image instead of adding. 

Educational outcome

Kids will learn how to create their own scratch art and about a different way of creating art.

This project has the potential to teach a lot to kids. It helps expand their minds and creativity by using a non-conventional medium for art. This project also teaches kids about using the negatives in light to create an image. Often in art, you use lighter colors and shades first to create an image. Instead of doing that, kids will learn how to examine the dark parts of an image and lighten it instead of darkening it. This expands not only their own creativity and options for ways to create art, but their parents’ as well.

Art Materials Needed
Art Materials Needed
  • Black paint and a brush 
  • Water 
  • Dish soap 
  • Paint palette or plastic lid 
  • Markers, crayons, or colored pencils 
  • White paper 
  • Clear packing tape 
  • Stick with dull end 
Project Instructions


  1. Take piece of white paper and start to color the sheet randomly with colors 
  2. Once the sheet is filled up with colors, use packing tape to completely cover the paper, making sure nothing is exposed 
  3. Mix together black paint and dish soap 
  4. Paint one layer of paint horizontally across the taped paper 
  5. Once the first layer is dry, paint another layer, this time vertically 
  6. After the paint has completely dried, take the dull end of a stick or even a dull pencil, and create whatever you want!