Activities & Days Out / 2 June, 2019 / Nanny Anita

Fun Painting Craft To Do with the Kids Using Watercolours and Salt

Painting with watercolours on watercolour paper is always a fun way to experiment as the paints bleed into each other and create new colours and patterns.  If you then add salt into the mix, it brings a whole new level to your little ones artwork.  The salt absorbs the paint and leaves these beautiful tie-dyed patterns behind.

My youngest charge had a play date the other day, and at 3 years old she is beginning to transition from playing separately with children (parallel and associated play) to playing with them (co-operative play).  However, it doesn’t always last long before her and her friend want to do separate things and begin to get bored.  This is where having a handy little craft can help keep her play dates running smoothly.  I had this activity already set up in the kitchen so they could paint while tea was cooking, and they loved it.  We ended up using my entire painting pad, which was great, as it has been sitting unused in a cupboard for years.  It takes a while for the salt to have an affect but by the end it looked like we had created pictures of nebulas.  This has to be one of my new favourite crafts to do.

Make sure you follow my painting board on Pinterest for more ideas.  Don’t forget to save the pin for later. 

To make your own watercolour and salt pictures you will need:

• Watercolour paints
• Paintbrushes
• Salt (we used both table and rock salt)
• Watercolour paper – if you don’t have this ordinary paper will also work but not quite so well.

All you need to do is fill the paper with colour (the wetter the better) and then sprinkle it with salt and leave it to work it’s magic.  Once they are dry you could even try to see what patterns they make.

This craft may aid development of:

• Creativity
• Tripod hold and control with a brush

Pin for later: