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Texture Rubbing Cards Basket
Printables Basket

Texture Rubbing Cards Basket

Printable frames, a peeled crayon, and a walk around the house. Kids rub the texture of a brick, a leaf, a coin, a doormat — then swap sheets and guess what each one was.

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Ages 3-85 min prep

This is the activity my grandmother did with me, and it costs nothing but a crayon with the paper peeled off.

My kids treat it like a treasure hunt. They go around the house pressing paper onto everything to see which surfaces have a secret pattern hiding in them.

The guessing game at the end is what makes it stick. They love watching me get it wrong.

A basket of rubbing-worthy things gathered from around the house.
A basket of rubbing-worthy things gathered from around the house.
Flat side of the crayon, paper held still — that is all there is to it.
Flat side of the crayon, paper held still — that is all there is to it.
Finished rubbings laid out for the guessing game.
Finished rubbings laid out for the guessing game.

What you'll need

  • The printable rubbing cards (download below), printed on thin plain paper — thinner paper gives sharper rubbings
  • Jumbo wax crayons with the paper peeled off, so you can rub with the side
  • A clipboard or a piece of stiff card to lean on outdoors
  • A basket for collecting rubbing-worthy objects: coins, leaves, keys, lace, bark, a comb
  • Optional: masking tape to hold the paper still on rough surfaces
  • Optional: scissors and glue for cutting the best rubbings into a collage

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How to make it

  1. 1

    Print the frame sheets and peel the paper off two or three crayons before you start.

  2. 2

    Show the technique once: hold the paper still with one hand, rub the side of the crayon flat across it with the other.

  3. 3

    Start indoors with easy wins — a coin, a key, the bottom of a shoe, a radiator grille.

  4. 4

    Move outside for bark, brick, paving, a drain cover and a wall. Tape the paper down if the surface is rough.

  5. 5

    Write the name of each texture in the label box underneath, or let your child draw it.

  6. 6

    Play the guessing game: cut out the unlabelled rubbings, shuffle them, and take turns working out what each one was.

  7. 7

    Cut the best few out and glue them into a collage — a tree with bark trunk and leaf-rubbing leaves works beautifully.

Tip

Printer paper works, but the thinnest paper you own works far better. If the rubbing comes out patchy, the paper is moving — tape two corners down and try again.

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