At home I love to play detective and discoveries with my children. We live inventing ways to create secret messages, codes that only we understand or spy games, like Can U Escape Homemade. Take a look at the links to know all our adventures!
Today the tip is to play secret message, creating scratch off paint at home. In addition to detective, you can also use the same technique to write very creative cards for anyone you want.
The idea I made came from Érika Bueno, one of the educators at my children’s school. I received Mother’s Day cards with cute messages.
Treasure or mystery hunt
To create your secret message, you will need the following materials:
Paper to write the message. It can be sulfite or thicker, for a card.
Gouache paint (I recommend darker. Light inks, like white, pink and yellow, need lots of coats to hide the message).
Liquid detergent.
Transparent adhesive paper or wide transparent adhesive tape.
The first step is to write the message on paper. You can make the game even more fun by making messages that have a different meaning if you cover part of it.
For example:
Or make several short messages to be unveiled in a treasure hunt, or a mystery hunt.
In fact, if you like Treasure Hunt, which can easily turn into a mystery hunt, worthy of detectives, you’ll enjoy these other clues we made for you. Just download and play!
Scratch card simplicity
After writing the message, cut a piece of transparent adhesive paper to the same size as the message and paste it on the paper. It will look like this:
Now is the time to make scratch cards for our secret message. You will use 2 parts of paint for 1 part of liquid detergent.
Mix well and you’re done. Simple and fast.
The next step is to paint over the parts of the message you want to cover up with ink. Or the whole message, if applicable.
It is necessary to wait for the paint to dry well, for about 30 to 40 minutes, before applying a second coat. Repeat the process until you cover the entire message.
As I said, if you use a dark gouache color, you will need fewer layers of paint.
Then, just deliver the message and explain the instructions: scrape the covered part with a coin or even the nail.
I loved discovering my messages
Let’s play a secret message with scratch cards?
