• My kids are all about secret messages, and playing spies. They love everything about it, the intrigue, the excitement, and mostly the knowing things that other people don’t know. So when I saw this craft I knew it was one that we had to try.

    It is really simple, and you do not need much. Chances are you already have what you need.

    Grab some white paper, white crayon, and some water colors.

    Now to keep up with the secret message theme, I wrote messages and “missions” on the white paper with the white crayons. Then I folded them up and tied some twine around them in order to make them look a bit more, I don’t know, spy-ish.

    It totally worked. My kids went nuts for their missions. And they had not even figured out that there were hidden messages on them.

    As their informant, I explained that to see their missions and messages they had to paint the papers using the washable water colors I gave them.

    The water color paints don’t stick to the waxy white crayon, so as the kids painted the paper their secret messages began to appear. To make the game last longer, they were only allowed to paint one paper at a time. Then they had to complete the tasks given to them by their secret message. The missions included things like, “Give daddy a hug.” Or “Feed the dog!” Nothing too big, but just enough to keep them running around the house, and then back again to find their next mission.

    This could also be a fun way to do a scavenger hunt to find a present. It would also be an epic way to announce a planned trip or something else that you want to be a surprise.