Raised salt painting is an all-time favorite kids art activity that is loved by all ages from toddlers on up. Glue, salt, and watercolors are all you need for this simple art activity, also known as salty watercolors.
Raised salt painting is awesome. I mean, AWESOME.
We’ve done this so many times over the years, starting when Maia and her toddler art group buddies were still in diapers. And now, at 11, she still enjoys it. (As do I, and I’m 39!)
If you haven’t tried raised salt painting yet, now’s your chance! First I’ll share a video of the raised salt painting in action, then give you the step-by-step tutorial for this fun art activity.
Here’s a video I made showing raised salt painting in action.
Raised Salt Painting
MATERIALS
- Card stock*
- Squeeze bottle of glue (such as Elmers)
- Table salt
- Liquid watercolors**
- Paint brushes or Droppers
*Any sturdy art surface will do. We’ve done this with card stock, poster board, cardboard, watercolor paper, paper plates, and foam core.
**Liquid watercolors are great for this activity. If you don’t have any, you can make your own by watering down food coloring.
How to Do Raised Salt Painting
1.) Squeeze glue designs or pictures onto your card stock.
2.) Sprinkle with salt until the glue is thoroughly covered. Tip to let excess salt fall away.
3.) Dip your paint brush into liquid watercolor paint then gently touch to the salt-covered glue lines. Watch the paint “magically” travel in both directions!
If you like, you can use a dropper or pipette instead of a paint brush to add your watercolor paint. We find that this can add a bit too much paint at a time, but I know that many people like this method.
4.) Let dry thoroughly. This may take a day or two.
Note: If you’re wondering about the art mats or the liquid watercolor pots in a base, I talk about them in my post about tools for children’s art.
Once dry, display your new artworks!
Raised salt paintings are an all-time favorite art activity in our house (along with shaving cream marbling, microwave puffy paint, and splatter painting). And, like those others, it’s one that every kid I know loves, too.
You can use this glue + salt + watercolor technique to write names and other words…
…to make rainbows…
…Valentines…
…as well as to make nature scenes, squiggles and scribbles, faces, and more!
How about you? Have you tried raised salt painting with your kids yet?
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After drawing with glue and covering with the salt…do you then allow that to dry before using the liquid watercolors?
We add the liquid watercolors immediately, Morgan. It works fine! You can let the glue/salt dry first (we have done that, too) but there’s no reason to wait. The kids usually want to add the color right away!
We’ve never thought to use a tray of salt. That’s a great idea. We’ve always just sprinkled salt from a bowl or shaker onto the paper on a mat. Harder to contain the extra salt that way. I’ll file that top away!
We started using a tray of salt early on, with the toddler art group, to contain the salt and also so it could be re-used over and over by all the kids. It works great.
Do you think food colouring would work instead of water colour paint?
Yes, Phillipa! Just water down the food coloring a bit first.
Love it! We will have to try this one soon.
Yes! Definitely give it a try!
We did this quite a while ago but I’ll have to do it again now you reminded me! We never even used to water down food dyes. Good idea to get maximum use from them. Only yesterday, we did the same thing with glue and glitter. My five year old and her little friend LOVE doing that! They just love glitter. Just for a change, I’m going to set it up for them next time. :) And I love the old vinegar and bicarb trick too. I’ll do that for them as well. :)
Yes, Brigitte! If the 5yo’s loved glue and glitter, they’ll love this one, too. Give it another go!
Love how saturated and bright these colors are! We can’t wait to try this one!
It’s a good one! I hope you enjoy it! :)
We are so doing this at Tiny Tots at the library! Perfect for spring rainbows and flowers during March story times! We’ll use cut down cardboard boxes for our “canvas”. Mahalo for sharing; the moms/grandmoms and children will love the magic!
Does the salt stay on a while? or do you know a way to stop it from chipping off? Thought this might be a great mother’s day gift.
Wow! I had never heard of raised salt painting. It so easy and colorful. I can imagine kids enjoying it!
After I set our pictures aside to dry, the paint bled onto the cardstock. Any guesses as to why this might happen? We used regular water colors, which seemed to be working fine during the actual painting process. Thanks!
I tried this, but the brand of liquid water color I used did not spread, then I used food coloring which did spread nicely. I guess some brands spread better?
Also, after the project dried, the salt chipped off and made a mess.
Have you had this problem? I did mine on regular paper, not cardboard. Does it matter?
The salt I used was non-iodized – wouldn’t think that would matter.
I was so hoping this project would work for us – not sure what went wrong!
Thanks.
Your beautiful samples show Pai tvonly in the salt, not the paper. Can preschoolers achieve that clean white background? I know it should be about process, not product, but I’m just curious.
Do you think this would work in a stretched canvas for a school art project?
I’m looking forward to trying this with the children in my in home child care! The directions for the liquid watercolors I got say they must be diluted for use. Do you use them as is for this project or dilute them?
Can you use Kosher salt? Where can I get that paint cup set? Do the cups separate from the tray? I am a home visitor and I need something portable that doesn’t have a lot of pieces that can be lost.
Hello! We tried this today. However, the result is not as good as yours. The colour didn’t quite “travel”. I suspect it’s related to the humidity. It’s a bit humid here today (I’m from Hong Kong), which made the salt a bit wet before we added the colour, thus it didn’t absorb the colour very well, do you think so? Thank you!!
Can you use epson salt instead of table salt ?
I don’t think so, Cassandre. I think it’s quite different. Isn’t it magnesium sulfate? However, you could always do a test one to see if it would work at all…
We had the same problem as Annie on January 23 – the watercolors bled on the cardstock leading to very disappointed 5 and 9 year old girls unfortunately. We watched your video prior to starting and they were careful to touch only the salt and glue. Any specific tips to reduce bleeding would be much appreciated.
Great post Jean. The texture and brightness look awesome.
Don’t they, Tom?! Glad you like the post!
I’m sorry I’m new hear but I notice when the comments were about something that went wrong you didn’t answer I’m just curious to why you didnt
I really want this to work! But unfortunately had the same bleeding issues as a couple previous commenters. I used Colorations liquid watercolors and didn’t let the glue dry. I think I’ll try again and let the glue dry this time in case that makes a difference. I used heavy paper, but I don’t remember exactly what. Any suggestions?
Hmm… Are you using a paint brush to gently dab the paint to the salt-covered glue lines? Rather than a dropper? Some people use droppers but I find it doesn’t give you the same level of control and causes too much paint to be applied.
We usually do this without letting the glue dry first and use a variety of surfaces. Cardstock, posterboard, foam core, cardboard, and watercolor paper.
Thought this looked amazing so I tried it with my kids the other day. It went great except once they were totally dry chunks of the glue started to fall off! Did we do something wrong? Do you have any suggestions?
I’m having the same problem and would love to try again but adjust to keep that from happening.
Fun project
Hello! I’d like to ask if this would work with acrylic craft paint? Thanks so much for sharing – I’m excited to try this with my grandkids.
We love salt painting too. I love that it’s great for a whole range of ages. It’s a great science lesson in absorption too! I’m a big believer in process art, where the focus is on enjoying the process of creating, rather than the final product. Which is handy as salt paintings have a tendency to gradually fall apart as the salt dries out! They’re such great fun to do though.
Agreed on all points, Debbie! :) Salt painting is so much fun to do and looks great, but is not the best long-term keeper.
Hello jean, thank your these amazing ideas. You inspired me! I live in The Netherlands and I ave made a little (dutch) blog about Salt Painting. I have put your name and this link in it!
Maybe you like to see it: https://yoo.rs/de.knutseljuf.ede/blog/tekenen-met-lijm-zout-en-waterverf-1521217678.html?Ysid=88861
Best regards and creative greetings from The Netherlands (Europe)
De Knutseljuf Ede
It was a fun-filled activity for my kids and I. I have 18 of them in my class and they really loved this activity. I never knew they were this creative until I asked them to make whatever picture they love. They made birds, cats and their names. Planning the shaving foam and food colour activity for next week. Thanks somuch
So glad you and your students liked the raised salt painting!