Learn with Wax

When I was teaching in the classroom I’d be alway looking for different ways to engage children in their learning and also make it an enjoyable experience for them.

One way I would find to engage reluctant learners was using wax with water colour paints!

I’ve put together a few ways that you can use this technique to teach children.

Here I simply back some white paper onto coloured card. I often will do that because it looks a little more attractive and interesting to children but this isn’t necessarily an important step.

Using a white candle from the supermarket ($4 pack of 6 candles) I wrote a single digit that would soon be brushed over with some water colour paints to reveal.

When you write with a white candle on a white surface it can be surprisingly difficult. Children will really need to concentrate and think about letter formation and
number formation (if that is what they are working on). This can also be done using a white crayon if no candles are handy.

Here is a little video example of the ‘wow factor’ that children will get from brushing water colour over and area with wax markings. Please keep in mind that I was filming and attempting to paint at the same time! LOL

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MATHEMATICS

I think the results are spectacular and lots of fun for kids to do themselves!

Here is an example of how you can use this technique to help develop mathematical facts. Children simply need to answer the mathematical problem before checking their results using the water paint over the waxed markings.

More mathematical suggestions that use this technique –

Children skip count with number patterns and reveal after they answer
Children reveal a wax drawn number then have to provide the sums to answer it
Mapping skills can be developed by children using a set of clues to reveal a location on a specially made map.

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LITERACY

Of course this same approach can be used to develop literacy skills. The example above is an activity that children would enjoy and help develop their understanding of rhyming words. A child might reveal one word and then make a list of rhyming possibilities before checking their answers.

Here is an example of providing a child with a beginning sound ‘b’ and asking them to read the picture clue and then make attempts to try and spell the remainder of that word. This is a great way to help with spelling and assist children with listening to the sounds in words.

More literacy suggestions that use this technique –

Learning the alphabet. Children can test themselves before revealing the next letter.
Sentence structure. Children write a short sentence for a friend to reveal before they add to that sentence and so on.
Capital letters and lower case letters.

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SOCIAL SKILLS

Children might like to draw a picture using the wax candle to illustrate a situation or how they are feeling. It then can be revealed when they feel ready. This approach can really help children who struggle to verbalise their emotions and prefer to communicate through drawings.

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Well I hope you have enjoyed some of the ideas that I have presented to you.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions and I’d love to read your comments below.

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