Salt painting is a really cool technique using glue, salt, and watercolors.
It’s one of those art projects that’s all about the process, and one that my preschooler absolutely loved.
We waited until Little Sis (age 1) was down for her nap, so Mommy and Elena (age 3) could have some one-on-one time together.
I’ve found that special time one-on-one is really important when you have more than one kid, especially when one of those kids goes off to school every day.
What kinds of things do you like doing with your kids one-on-one? Comment below, then scroll back here to see how we made our salt paintings!
What You’ll Need for Salt painting
Supplies:
- school glue
- salt
- water
- food coloring
- cardstock (or something similar)
- paper plate, or something to catch excess salt
We used coarse kosher salt because those are the things we had on hand. Regular table salt works just fine as well.
Personally, I liked the chunky texture of the coarse salt!
Also, make sure to use heavy cardstock, cardboard, or even paper plates.
All that salt and glue adds weight and computer paper, even construction paper, will collapse when you try to move it.
What We Did
First, I drew the designs with glue.
Most people use white. All we had was pink glitter glue. That worked just fine, too.
Next, we covered the designs with salt.
I hate waste, so we used a small amount of salt, shook the excess onto a paper plate, then sprinkled that again onto a different part of the glue design until everything was totally covered with salt.
In a small container of water, I added a few drops of food coloring. You really only need a tiny amount of water.
Elena dipped a small brush in the watercolor paint and gently touched it to the salt design.
It’s really cool to watch the color spread!
I’ve seen people do this with pipettes, but for us, the pipettes added too much water and flooded the whole painting.
A fine paintbrush worked the best for us!
Once dry, the salt was a bit crumbly still, so I sprayed it with hairspray to keep it together. It didn’t really help. 🙁
Spray adhesive would be better, or clear spray paint if you have it.
If not, just give the paintings a good shake. Display or store them in clear plastic sheet if you plan on keeping them for a while.
Ready to Try Salt Painting?
The whole process of salt painting was really fun to see and do. I hope you try it!
And Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
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