I have a fun “magic trick” that’ll leave your kiddos amazed! For my magic trick, I’m going to magically color a picture. Sounds cool right? Since it’s currently around St. Patrick’s Day, my picture that I’m going to color is St. Patrick’s Day themed but this would work for any themed picture. So grab your supplies below and check out this fun magically appearing picture!
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Supplies Needed to Make a Magically Appearing Picture
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- Paper towels – I use the half sheets so when I fold them like stated in the directions below, they turn into perfect squares.
- Alcohol based markers – here’s a great dual tip alcohol based marker. These are great because the dual tips allow you to get in very small spaces with one end and larger spaces with the other end.
- Water based markers – This is my family’s favorite set of markers. These are also dual tipped so they are so versatile for intricate designs and more basic designs.
- Tray – Any type of tray should work. I just used this clear Pyrex baking dish for our trick.
- Water – You just need enough water to cover the bottom of the tray.
How to Make a Magically Appearing Picture
1. First, fold your paper towel in half (hamburger style) make a perfect square.
2. Next draw a picture on the front of your paper towel using the alcohol based marker. I’m drawing a four leaf clover to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Make sure to draw with some pressure so that the marker strokes go through the paper towel and leave an outline on the second layer of the folded paper towel.
3. Unfold your napkin to make sure that the markers shows through on the inside of the folded napkin. If it doesn’t show through, you make need to draw over the design a second time or press the marker multiple times along the drawing to create dots on the inside of the folded paper towel. Check out the picture below for reference.
4. Now connected the dots on the inside of the paper towel using the alcohol based marker to make a duplicate of the original picture.
5. Now color the inside picture with the water based markers. The coloring doesn’t have to be perfect because you won’t actually see this. See the picture below for reference.
6. Now close the paper towel back to the folded position.
7. Then, lay the tray out and add enough water just to cover the bottom of the tray. I also had ours set out with our leprechaun elf on the shelf that comes and visit during the month of March. So, in the picture below, you’ll see our magic trick setup by our leprechaun elf.
8. Then have your kiddo lay the folded paper towel into the tray and watch as the picture magically becomes colored.
Here are a couple more ideas for St. Patrick Day themed pictures – a rainbow and a pot of gold.
The Science Behind this Magic Trick
We use alcohol based markers for the drawing because they don’t run when they get wet in water. They are alcohol based so they will run in alcohol, not water. We used the water based markers on the inside because they DO run with water. They are water based, so when they are placed in water they do run. So when we place the picture in the “magical” water tray, the water based markers bled through the paper towel and “colored” the blank picture in front.
Would your kiddos enjoy this “magic trick?” Mine thought it was so cool and made guesses on how it actually worked! I love all the critical thinking!
If you’re interested in our leprechaun elf on the shelf that I mentioned above, check out our blog post below about our sneaky friend that visits every March.
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