Salt painting for kids: glue, salt and watercolour

Art technique

Watch colour race along a line of salt

Draw with glue, cover it in salt and touch it with a brush full of watercolour: the colour runs along the salt line by itself. Salt grains soak up water, and the colour travels with the water from grain to grain.

Play in your browser Do it for real

Ages 4+
30 minutes, dries overnight
Cupboard materials

Painted illustration of the painter dripping blue, pink and yellow paint onto a salt-covered glue star and flower on dark card, the colour spreading along the salt.

Quick facts

Age

4+ with help, 6+ on their own

Time

20–30 minutes, plus a night to dry

Mess

Medium: loose salt gets everywhere

Adult needed

To set up and help with the glue bottle

You need (cost)

White glue, table salt, watercolours: things most homes have

On screen / for real

Both

What you'll make

A raised, sparkly picture: white glue lines crusted with salt, each line glowing with colours that ran into each other by themselves. Black card makes the colours shine; white card looks like a snowy watercolour.

In Extreme Drawing

Everything for salt painting is in the free part of the app.

Craft tab → Glue & glitter → Glue. Drag to squeeze a raised, glossy bead of white glue. Draw a star, a snowflake or your name.
Kitchen tab → Sieve → Salt. Shake it over the glue while it is still wet (glue sets in about a minute). The salt sticks to the glue as a sparkly white line; the rest lies loose on the paper.
Add colour. Touch the line with the Watercolour brush, Ink drops (Craft) or Food colouring (Science). The colour soaks into the salt and creeps along the line. Where two colours meet, they blend.

Also try: salt from the sieve on wet watercolour, with no glue at all. Each grain pulls the wet paint in around it and leaves a pale starburst with a darker rim.

Play in your browser

Painted illustration of the painter sprinkling glitter on a glue star, beside salt on a glue line soaking up blue paint, stickers, ink droppers, a stencil and tape.

For real

Do it for real

You need

Thick paper or card (black card makes the colours glow)
White PVA school glue in a squeeze bottle
Table salt, fine or coarse
Watercolours mixed very wet, liquid watercolour, or food colouring with a few drops of water
A soft brush or a dropper (pipette)
A baking tray to work in and catch the salt

Step by step

Draw with glue
Put the card in the tray and squeeze thick lines of glue. Keep lines joined if you want the colour to travel a long way. Work in small sections so the glue stays wet.
Bury it in salt
Pour salt over the glue straight away until every line is covered.
Shake off the extra
Tip the card up over the tray and tap it gently. The salt that stays is stuck in the glue. Keep the loose salt for next time (not for cooking).
Load the brush
Make the brush really wet with colour, or fill the dropper.
Touch, don’t paint
Touch the tip to the salt line and hold still. Watch the colour run. Add a second colour further along and see what happens where they meet.
Dry it flat
Leave it flat overnight; thick lines can take a day. If you tip it while it is wet, the salt can slide off.

Variations to try

Winter snowflakes

White glue snowflakes on dark blue card, coloured with blues and purples. A favourite for the Christmas holidays.

Starbursts

Lines bursting out from a centre point, with a different colour on each line. Lovely for New Year or a birthday card.

Autumn leaves

Leaf outlines and veins in glue, then red, orange and yellow dropped in at the stem.

Your name

Big bubble letters in glue, one colour per letter. Watch the colours meet where the letters touch.

In the app vs on paper

On screen

The colour runs along the salt in seconds, and the salt only sticks while the glue is wet, just as it does for real. You can draw a whole page of glue and fix mistakes with Undo. No salt on the floor, and nothing to wait for overnight.

On real paper

Slower and less predictable: the colour runs a little way, then stops once the salt near the brush is full, so you add more. Thick lines take a day to dry. The finished picture is bumpy, crunchy and sparkly in a way a screen can’t show.

Why the colour runs along the salt

Salt is thirsty. Each grain pulls in water, and the colour rides along with the water from one grain to the next, until the salt is full.

For grown-ups. Packed salt crystals leave tiny gaps between them, and water moves through those gaps by capillary action (wicking), the same way water climbs a paper towel. Salt is also hygroscopic: it attracts water. The dye or pigment is carried along with the water until the salt near the brush is saturated. On wet watercolour, a grain draws the wet paint towards itself, which leaves a pale, star-shaped patch round it.

Try next: what do you predict?

Fine salt or coarse salt?

Which one carries the colour further along the line? Test both on the same card.

Sugar instead of salt?

Sugar crystals soak up water too. Does it work as well, or differently?

A long line or a circle?

Does colour travel further along a straight line or round a ring?

Salt without glue?

Sprinkle salt on a wet watercolour wash. What patterns are left when it dries?

For teachers

In the classroom

Salt painting fits KS1 science on everyday materials (which materials soak up water) and NGSS 2-PS1-2 (testing which materials suit a purpose), as well as art lessons on mixed media. Show it on the whiteboard first, then let groups predict which salt carries colour furthest before they try it.

Ideas for teachers Using it on the whiteboard

Questions parents ask

Can you do salt painting without glue?

Yes: sprinkle salt straight onto wet watercolour and each grain leaves a pale starburst as it dries. Without glue the salt doesn’t stay in lines, so you get a texture rather than a drawing that the colour runs along.

What paint works best for salt painting?

Runny colour: watercolour mixed very wet, liquid watercolour, or food colouring with a little water. Thick poster paint sits on top of the salt and doesn’t travel.

How long does salt painting take to dry?

Usually overnight, and up to a day for thick glue lines. Keep it flat while it dries.

Why did my salt fall off?

The glue had started to dry before the salt went on, or the picture was bent or tipped while wet. Work in small sections and add the salt straight away.

Is salt painting free in Extreme Drawing?

Yes. Glue & glitter, the salt sieve, watercolour, ink drops and food colouring are all in the free part of the app.

Paint with salt on screen first

Open Extreme Drawing in your browser, squeeze a glue line, shake on the salt and touch it with colour. Then get the glue bottle out.

Play in your browser All art techniques