I believe this is the third year I’ve posted these photos, but it’s my favorite Easter kid craft… Glorious Cross Paintings. And it’s not even my own idea…I found it on Pinterest. If you’d like to see the original idea, it’s at Housing a Forest.
Here’s our version.
First, cut a piece of scrap paper in half, so it’s 5-1/2” x 8”, then cut a cross out of it, as tall as the paper is. Color around the edges with oil pastels (put it on another piece of scrap paper). By the way, on a totally unrelated note, Spot Shot will quickly remove oil pastels from formica. My rainbow-loving kid did his coloring in rainbow order, but the rest of us did not. I have to admit, his did look a little cooler.
Everyone did well at this. The pastel needs to be right on the edge in a fairly thick layer.
After the edges are completely colored, lay the cross on a piece of white cardstock. Use your finger to go all the way around, pulling the color off the cross and onto your paper. Hold the cross firmly in place with your other hand. The little ones needed some help with this step, but it’s a pretty forgiving craft.
After the cross was done, we cut an arched piece of paper, colored it with shades of green along the edge, and pulled it onto the white paper to make a hill. Remember not to pull it where the cross is, so it looks like it’s behind the cross.
As a last step, we painted the sky and hill using watercolor paint. The kind the kids use at school, 8 colors in a little tray, not real watercolors an artist would use. The oil pastels resist the paint, so you don’t have to be super careful here.
We also made these on half-size pieces of cardstock, using a cross cut from a 4-1/4”x 5-1/2” piece of cardstock, and created Easter cards from them. The kids loved this craft so much, we made them again this year. And that’s the sign of a winning craft…their enthusiasm to recreate it!
