A combination of wax crayons and water-resistant coloured pencils will produce extraordinary effects. Try them out with your kid, find out what can be mixed and jointly admire the outcome.

Shade an area in a specific colour with a watersoluble pencil and subsequently apply a wash by means of a damp paintbrush. Salt may be sprinkled onto this area as long as it is still damp. These salt grains will absorb the colour and once the salt is removed after drying, the coloured area will display a fabulous texture.

Magnificent effects may be achieved with wax crayons. Take watersoluble pencils and draw a pattern on a sheet of paper. Then use wax crayons to draw a figure on this pattern. If you take a damp brush and apply a wash by using large strokes, the lines covered with wax will act as a resist and remain unchanged while the background colours will blend. So you can work with a foreground and a background. White wax crayons are nearly transparent. When used for covering purposes, the drawing underneath remains in its original state.

Little artists find it pretty hard to colour a picture without smearing the contours. Show your child the effect of using a water-resistant pencil for contour application. Then colour the area inside the water-resistant contours with watersoluble pencils. If you take a damp paintbrush and wipe over the picture, only the colours in the centre of the pattern will blend, while the contours remain undestroyed. Of course, you may also proceed vice versa and use watersoluble pencils for drawing the contours, while colouring the centre of the pattern with water-resistant pencils. When applying water, the contours will blend with the background.