Elementary Activities: Scratch Art

By: Deborah Pace Rowley

(Scratch Art Medusa)

When we studied Ancient Greece in my elementary school class, we made our own Scratch Art. Then we designed Greek vases that depicted famous myths. There are lots of kits with expensive scratch art paper in the store but it is SO much more fun to create your own and it is so simple and cheap too. 

First, color a piece of white paper with thick, dark crayon. We used card stock but a regular weight paper should work fine also You can do the entire page in the same bright color or you can color the paper in stripes of several different colors. Try to get the crayon as thick and dark as you can and don't leave any white spaces. 

Then all you need to do is mix some black tempura paint with a drop of regular dish detergent. The ratio is probably 2 to 3 TBSP of paint to 1/4 tsp of dish detergent. Paint the entire page with black paint. 

When the paper is dry, use a toothpick or large wooden skewer to scratch off your design.

(The myth of Icarus flying too close to the sun.)

It is so fun to see the colors as they are revealed underneath the black paint. I think they turned out spectacular! Don't you?