watercolor salt paintings for kids {birthday bash guest post}

We're excited to have a fun summer kids project from Make and Takes today! Usually you find us guest posting over there, but Marie agreed to help us celebrate our 3rd birthday with a fun kids craft from her site. How lucky!

I'm happy to be over at Little Birdie Secrets guest posting today! We're trying a fun new technique for our watercolor pictures using salt. It's a great way to bring a little texture to your art.



Each child was armed with a paint brush, watercolors, and a piece of white cardstock paper. I also give them each their own cup filled with a little water to wash out paint. Then I let them go to town with color.



Sometimes I draw an image on pencil for my kids to watercolor the inside. This way, they can focus on the design of the image and not worry about where or what to paint.



Once each picture was complete, we took a clear wet paint brush and got the whole picture wet again, as some parts had dried. Then I gave them our salt shaker to sprinkle a little, or a lot, of salt to their paper.



We let the pictures sit for a few hours, making sure the paint and salt were dry. When they're dry, shake off the excess salt that may come off as it dries.



The pictures turned out so fun! It was great for the kids to see what the salt on the colored water could do, soaking up and expanding some of the color.



Be sure to check out Make and Takes for more kid crafty fun.