Colorful Salt Art Watercolor Painting for Kids

Grab your watercolors and glue to make this colorful salt art! It’s a fun activity for kids of all ages to experiment with shapes and colors.

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Salt art is an easy kids’ activity! You just need a few art supplies and items from the kitchen to get started. You can do this activity in less than 30 minutes or stretch it out into a longer afternoon activity.

Painting in general and salt painting have some great benefits for little kids! For toddlers and preschoolers, this activity helps with:

• Hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills – Help your child hold the paintbrush correctly and practice dabbing just the right amount of paint where they want it to go.
• Creativity – Simply set out the supplies and explain how to do this activity, then sit back and see what your child creates!
• Patience – Once your children have finished their art projects, they’ll need to wait until the glue dries completely, which might take a whole day.
• Science – Older kids who are learning about water will be fascinated to learn that salt is hygroscopic, which means it helps objects absorb water. You can turn this into a whole science experiment!

Art activity ideas

Making salt art is an open-ended activity, which means there aren’t too many rules. Your kids can get creative and experiment with different ideas. Here are a few variations on this fun art activity:

• Draw pictures on the paper before you start making salt art if you like. You could even print coloring pages onto watercolor paper!
• Use black paint on the salt; after it dries completely, watercolor between the lines onto the paper to create a stained-glass look.
• Substitute sugar instead of salt. The finished art will have a different texture, but the process is the same.
• Experiment with different-sized brushes, or add the watercolor paint with an eyedropper or a straw.
• This activity will work with different types of salt, but you’ll probably use a lot of it. We picked up a container of regular iodized table salt from the grocery store for less than a dollar.
• Note that you can reuse the extra salt for this craft, but not for cooking.

How to make salt art

Supplies

• pencil, optional
• newspapers or a plastic tray
• watercolor paper
• white school glue
• table salt
• watercolor paints and paintbrushes
• a cup of water for painting/rinsing

Instructions

1. Prep the activity materials.

Protect your workspace with newspapers or a washable tray. You’ll want to be able to clean up excess salt easily.

Set out the salt art supplies. You may want to cut the watercolor paper into smaller pieces, but you can also leave it full-sized.

2. Draw designs with glue.

Use the white school glue to draw designs on the watercolor paper. Try to make medium-sized, even lines. If the glue lines are too thin, the salt might not stick.

If the glue lines are too thick, they will take a long time to dry. Too much glue can also run together a bit.

3. Sprinkle salt on the glue.

Generously sprinkle salt onto the glue. Be sure to cover it well because the paint will only stick to the salt. Shake the extra off of the artwork. You can shake it into a bowl to reuse it for this art project.

Let the salt dry for a few minutes. You don’t really need to wait long, but if the glue is still very runny it may stick to your paintbrush. As an alternative, you can let the glue dry completely before painting and it will still work.

4. Paint the salt lines.

Use a paintbrush to apply watercolors to the salted glue. Watch how the colors flow along the lines! Experiment with how wet the brush should be.

Rinse the brush and change colors as much as you like. When you’re done, allow the salt art to dry completely. Drying can take several hours or even overnight, depending on how much glue and water you’ve used.

Have fun making salt art! This is a really easy activity that’s great for preschoolers as well as big kids. Even adults will enjoy getting creative and making art.

Printable instructions

Salt Art

Print

Prep Time 5 minutes

Active Time 15 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Materials

• pencil, optional
• newspapers or a plastic tray
• watercolor paper
• white school glue
• table salt
• watercolor paints and paintbrushes
• a cup of water for painting/rinsing

Instructions

1. Protect your workspace with newspapers or a washable tray. You'll want to be able to clean up excess salt easily.
2. Set out the salt art supplies. You may want to cut the watercolor paper into smaller pieces, but you can also leave it full-sized.
3. Use the white school glue to draw designs on the watercolor paper. Try to make medium-sized, even lines. If the glue lines are too thin, the salt might not stick. If the glue lines are too thick, they will take a long time to dry.
4. Generously sprinkle salt onto the glue. Be sure to cover it well because the paint will only stick to the salt. Shake the extra off of the artwork. You can shake it into a bowl to reuse it for this art project.
5. Let the salt dry for a few minutes. You don't really need to wait long, but if the glue is still very runny it may stick to your paintbrush. As an alternative, you can let the glue dry completely before painting and it will still work.
6. Use a paintbrush to apply watercolors to the salted glue. Watch how the colors flow along the lines! Experiment with how wet the brush should be. Too much water will saturate the paper.
7. Rinse the brush and change colors as much as you like. When you're done, allow the salt art to dry completely. Drying can take several hours or even overnight, depending on how much glue and water you've used.

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