Salt Art (and a St. Patrick’s Day video)

First of all, Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  I had some great crafts and St. Patty’s decor all planned out in my head…then never quite got around to making them.  Next year, next year.  One of the crafts I had in mind was based on the lyrics from one my favorite songs by Ben Folds-“The Luckiest”- which is very fitting for today, wouldn’t you say?  We almost used this song for our wedding song…probably should have!  This performance, accompanied by a full orchestra, is particularly wonderful.   I don’t get too mushy-gushy here, but I truly feel like The Luckiest!!  So I’m dedicating this to my husband, my Mr. Steady.  I love you!

And now for the ART!

We started our Spring Break a few days early since The Littlest Apple was sick at the end of last week and missed school.  He was sick enough to keep home from school, but still as energetic as usual, so we’ve had quite a few days of “active” art and other projects around the house.  I’ve seen this glue+salt+watercolor idea several places, and I thought this would be a perfect activity for him.  The three step process might be a little much for a large group of kids (depending on their age), but The Littlest Apple and I had a great time with this!

First, you squirt swirly lines of glue all over your paper (probably best to use paper that will stand up to the weight of the glue and salt and the watercolors).  Then you sprinkle salt all over the glue, shaking off the excess and making sure that all of your glue lines are covered up.  The Littlest Apple sometimes used a spoon to sprinkle salt on his paper.

Finally, you use a dropper to put small amounts of watercolors-1 or 2 drops at a time-to the salt.  Or a whole dropper full, if you’re The Littlest Apple.

Or TWO droppers at the same time, if you’re super cool like The Littlest Apple….

Now watch, as the watercolor runs across the salt and glue and stays off of the paper (unless you use too much paint…AHEM!).  We found it fun to use several colors (in this case, yellow, green, and purple because we did this for Mardi Gras).  It was neat to see the colors race to meet each other and mix together.

Here are some of our completed projects.  The Littlest Apple made 5 of them.  FIVE!  That in and of itself is a miracle.  I don’t think he’s EVER made 5 of any of our art projects.  So he did 5, and I made a few too.  I let you guess who did each one….

This is such a neat project!