Nothing brings my kids running faster than when they get to do something that’s normally taboo or off-limits. In our house, one of those things is permanent marker. So my question of, “Who wants to color with permanent marker?” immediately had two pairs of feet racing to join the fun!

I invited the kids to draw whatever they wanted on sheets of white poster board. Travis drew a favorite TV character, and Veronika narrated to herself as she scribbled (including telling me she drew a Q for Queen and a T for Truck!).

Once they were satisfied with their drawings, I gave each a sheet of aluminum foil. A second normally off-limits item! Now the task was to scribble over it with washable markers.

Encourage your kids to be abstract and use lots of colors here, the more the better.

For a third fun component, I handed them the spritz bottle! I had to help Veronika with this part, but Travis loved using the spritz bottle solo, saturating his black marker drawing completely.

Place the black marker drawings face down over the colorful foil and press firmly, then lift up. Just like magic, your white paper has been covered with “watercolor” paint! The kids oohed and aahed at the big reveal.

These were so pretty that we had to hang them up in the playroom for display. Thanks to Parents magazine for this fun idea!