Oil Resist Pumpkins

4th grade learned the technique "oil resist".  This technique is a fun use of different materials, using oil pastels and tempera paint (watered down and with dish detergent).  The concept is that water and oil don't mix-so wherever the student puts oil pastel on the paper, the tempera paint will not go.  

The first step to this project is for students to sketch out a pumpkin or jack-o-lantern using pencil. Then, they are asked to trace all pencil lines with a piece of chalk.  Then, they use oil pastels to fill in the shapes allowing the chalk to still show.  Once all oil pastel work is done, they paint their ENTIRE page with the black tempera paint and wash it off under the water.  The black tempera paint sits where the chalk (and pencil lines) are and a beautiful image is revealed.

Take a look!