Remember those “paint with water” books from when you were the kid?? Weren’t they the best? We had lots of fun with a set of watercolor pencils this afternoon, and Clara loved making her own “paint with water” pages!! If you don’t already have a set of watercolor pencils, Crayola makes a good set, and we absolutely love the vivid colors from this Derwent set - I used a 40% off coupon from the art store.
To help celebrate the season, I gave her lots of Autumn colors to experiment with — red, purple, orange, yellow, and brown.
I love that she chose to draw with all of them at once!
Her favorite part was adding the water and watching the pencil marks turn to paint — very exciting!!
Once it was all dry, I used some markers to turn her more abstract painting into an Autumn tree — Clara thought this was so awesome!
I think they will make lovely notecards for gift-giving with the help of a color copier, and I love that this was a quick, easy, low-mess project with very little clean-up. Yay for low-mess projects!! 
October 20th, 2011 on 5:21 pm
Love it! I have been hiding a big set of water color pencils from my high school days in the garage so they didn’t get wasted. Might be time to break them out!
October 21st, 2011 on 3:00 pm
Perfect!! This would be great fun! I started by drawing a pic for Clara to paint with water first, but she loved drawing her own pictures so much more. I don’t blame her!
October 20th, 2011 on 5:29 pm
Beautiful. Thanks for sharing
October 21st, 2011 on 3:01 pm
You’re welcome, Tera! They are lots of fun!! Enjoy!!!
October 20th, 2011 on 5:31 pm
Very nice! I think I have a set of these from college – time to get them out!
October 21st, 2011 on 3:02 pm
How fantastic!! I bet your kiddos would LOVE this — have fun!
October 20th, 2011 on 5:35 pm
Dear Valerie,
An autumn tree AND a sunset! Win-win!
Love,
Mark
October 21st, 2011 on 3:02 pm
YES!!!
October 20th, 2011 on 7:05 pm
Beauty without the mess- AWESOME!
October 21st, 2011 on 3:03 pm
Yay!! I mean, I’m not afraid of messes, but it is nice to not have to worry about the clean-up after every project. Have fun!! xoxo
October 21st, 2011 on 11:02 am
Valerie, this reminded me of an idea to share with you! You know the washable markers (Crayola, whathaveyou) that we all have various packs of? Well, when they dry out put them in a jar filled with water, let them sit for a few days, and you get bright vibrant watercolour paints that work absolutely wonderfully!! I separated the markers so that I have jars of yellow, red, green, blue, and purple paints. The paints turn out quite bright – they last a LONG time ’cause you can dilute them to get the shade you want! Hope you like this idea!
October 21st, 2011 on 12:45 pm
Thank you SO much for sharing this!! We have a pack of markers that is on its way out, so to speak, and would be perfect for this — I’ll definitely give it a go! Can’t wait!!!
October 22nd, 2011 on 2:19 pm
Thanks for sharing! Very pretty! I have been wondering if they still made those paint with water books. Haven’t had any luck finding any. This is good alternative.
October 30th, 2011 on 9:45 pm
I know what you mean… they can be hard to find! Have fun!!
October 24th, 2011 on 5:02 pm
This turned out quite beautifully. I was also very intrigued by “making your own watercolors” suggestion above – I want to try it too
October 30th, 2011 on 9:46 pm
Yes!! Can’t wait to give it a go!
October 27th, 2011 on 10:19 pm
I went looking for the paint with water lately and they are no where to be found. Thanks for the awesome idea.
October 30th, 2011 on 9:48 pm
You’re welcome, Ruth! They are lots of fun to make… Enjoy!