Kids Art - Salt Watercolor Painting

After seeing this cool watercolor exploration by The Chocolate Muffin Tree, I knew it was something the Lil Divas would enjoy. I had planned to do it this summer but we never got around to it. Last week, we finally sat down to enjoy some painting at the Lil Divas request and I immediately brought out the table salt as well, hoping their curiosity would be piqued enough to give it a try. They were instantly interested in seeing what would happen and I must say, the results were pretty cool.

What You Need:
card stock or other firm paper
table salt
watercolors
(we used Watercolor Cakes, you can also use Liquid Watercolors)
paint brushes

What To Do:
1. Use your water color to paint a picture.
2. Freely sprinkle salt onto your picture.
3. I allowed the painting to dry and then tapped off the excess salt. Since the Lil Divas wanted to hang their pictures I used a napkin to gently wipe off the leftover salt.

That's it. A super simple art activity with awesome visual results. The salt gives the painting a unique look of texture compared to simply using watercolors alone. It makes parts of the painting lighter than others and leaves some neat prints behind. This is definitely an activity we will be revisiting again.

Have you tried sprinkling salt to your watercolor paintings? What did you think of the effect it gave the artwork?

If you've never tried it before, do you think it's something you or your child would enjoy?

Be sure to let me know if you have given or will give it a try. I'd love to see your masterpiece(s).

Happy painting,

Bern