Watercolor resist techniques are so much fun for kids to explore! Here are 5 easy watercolor ideas using resist art.
Updated April 2023
Watercolor paints are one of our favorite art materials partly because of how adaptable they are. There are so many techniques and so many different kinds of art activities to do with them!
Watercolor resist art activities might just be our favorite way to use watercolors, though. And if you are looking for our top picks for watercolor paints, be sure to visit our list of the best paints for kids!
Here are five different watercolor resist techniques and quite a few different watercolor resist art activities to try!
5 Watercolor Resist Techniques
1. Watercolor Resist with Crayons and Oil Pastels
This is the technique that we use the most often, because it’s the easiest, quickest, and most adaptable. Simply draw on paper with crayons or oil pastels, and then paint over with watercolors and watch as the paint resists the wax!
- Watercolor Resist Art with Young Children
- Leaf Rubbings + Watercolor Resist
- Watercolor Resist with Crayons and a rainbow stained-glass window
- Oil Pastel Resist Butterflies
- Making and Decorating Paper Twirlers
2. Watercolor Resist with Melted Crayons
This technique takes the wax resist a step further by using a warm surface to melt the crayons first. The results are gorgeous!
- Melting Crayons on Canvas with Watercolors
- Melted Crayon and Watercolors on Wood for DIY wood blocks
- Watercolor Resist with Melted Crayon Shavings
- A Stained-Glass Bunting for the Window
- Melted Crayon Eggs for Easter
3. Sticker & Tape Resist Art
All kids love tape and stickers, so this watercolor resist technique is lots of fun. Use tape or stickers (or both!) to create an image, paint over the entire page, then remove the stickers to reveal a lovely silhouette!
- A Watercolor Galaxy Sky with Star Stickers
- A Sticker Resist Art Project for Kids
- Sticker Resist Starry Night Cards
- A Tape Resist Word Banner
- Tape Resist Skeleton Paintings (You could do something like this with watercolor paints. But admittedly we used a different kind of paint this time)
4. Glue Resist Art
Glue is so much fun to squeeze out as you draw pictures with it! And it resists the watercolor paint remarkably well.
- Glue Resist Snowmen and Snowflakes
- Halloween Spider Web Glue Resist Art
- Faux Stained-Glass Valentines with Black Glue
- Glue Art on Canvas with Watercolors
5. Rubbing Alcohol Resist
We don’t use this technique as much as the others, but rubbing alcohol has such a dramatic effect on the wet watercolor paint, repelling it and leaving a perfect, lighter circle wherever we drop it. It’s mesmerizing!
- Gorgeous Watercolor Butterflies with the Rubbing Alcohol Technique
- Painting Planets with the Alcohol Resist Technique
How about you? What are your favorite watercolor resist techniques?
More Watercolor Art Activities for Kids
- 3 Space Art Projects for Kids (with OOLY)
- 7 Watercolor Techniques for Kids: Fun Ways to Use Watercolor Paint
- 11 Fun Watercolor Ideas for Kids
- Blow Painting with Straws
- 12 Watercolor Art Ideas for Kids (with a Printable Guide!)
- How to Make Geometric Watercolor Art
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