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saltpaintingpastels1I know I’ve shared about our all time favorite process art for kids before, salt painting, but this one was a first for us, salt painting over your art work.  It’s so so cool and the kids loved it.  Not to mention the results were pretty outstanding, don’t you think?  I’ll walk you through the process but pretty much, if you are familiar with salt painting (we have a great salt painting video here on my youtube channel) then you’re already ahead of the game.

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salt painting process art for kidsHere is what you’ll need…

Materials

watercolor paper or cardstock

chalk pastels and oil pastels (if you don’t have both that’s ok)

table salt

white glue (buying in bulk is currently on sale and has been life changing for us in the glue department.  I was so sick of buying new bottles!)

liquid watercolors

droppers/pipettes

salt painting process art for kidsSteps

1. First, we made a colorful background using the chalk pastels.  The artists got to chose what colors they wanted and we rubbed them back and forth on the paper.  If you’re not familiar with chalk pastels, I highly recommend them.  You can read the full pastel tutorial here.

salt painting process art for kids2.  Next, we did an observational drawing of a vase of flowers in oil pastels over our color background.  We talked about the shapes of the flowers and then drew what we saw.  Everyone’s looked so different.  That is always something I look for and enjoy when working with groups of children.

salt painting process art for kids3.  Next, we traced over our flower drawing with white glue.  Kids never get tired of squeezing.  It’s just so satisfying.

salt painting process art for kidssalt painting process art for kids4.  The last step is to sprinkle salt all over the glue, shake off the excess and use the liquid droppers to squeeze liquid watercolors over the salt.  If you’ve never tried this before, take a minute to click over here to this salt painting post and you’ll see what I mean.  It’s super cool and easy and fun to do with all ages.

salt painting process art for kids salt painting process art for kidsWe let them dry overnight and then framed them.  Some of the salt does fall off but I find if you frame them right away they will last.  If you spray the whole thing with a spray adhesive, that will hold everything together too, plus it will prevent the pastels from rubbing off.

salt painting process art for kidsHow do you like this process?  Will you give it a try?  As an art teacher I really like to encourage multi layered art works.  Art is a process that can be lost in the “1,2,3 I’m done” mindset that some kids have. I find that doing layered work creates a slower process where students work more carefully and are more engaged in the experience.  Salt painting collage is actually one of my favorites to do with young children.

salt painting process art for kidsThanks for following along everyone.  I know I’ve been posting less lately.  It’s because I am working extra hard on some other big projects that I’m so excited about, like a new ebook filled with really helpful art tips for teachers and parents.  I can’t wait to share it with you!! xo Meri

salt painting process art for kids

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