Salt Painting Fireworks

Have you ever tried salt painting?  If not, you are in for a treat!  And if you have painted with salt and glue before, you have to try this fun salt painting fireworks craft! Create a fun Independence Day craft by salt painting fireworks.  Trust me, it's FUN and is an easy craft all your kiddos can make and will love from toddlers to preschoolers to early elementary kids! 

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Red, White, and Blue and Summer-time makes me think of.... fireworks!  They are one of my favorite parts of the America's Independence Day celebrations.  My favorite fireworks are those that make the "fizzy" sound after they explode.  
So today, we are sharing a fun craft inspired by this 4th of July tradition - Salt Painting Fireworks! 

WHAT IS SALT PAINTING?

If you are a first-timer, salt painting is exactly what it means.... painting with salt! 
Salt painting begins with salt and glue.  You first create a design of your choosing with white glue.  Next, you cover the glue with white salt.  Now what looks like a design of raised salt will ''magically'' turn colors as you drip liquid water color or food coloring along the raised salt.  As you drip color onto the salt, the salt absorbs it and changes color.  It's pretty neat! 

SALT PAINTING FIREWORKS

Your kiddos will love this 4th of July twist with salt and glue!
Try some salt and glue art for your Independence Day celebration and/or whenever fireworks light up the sky... random summer nights, New Years, etc.

Supplies:
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• black construction paper, 
• bottle of white glue, 
• red and blue food coloring, (or liquid watercolor)
• pipettes, 
• salt. 

SALT AND GLUE ART

Grab your bottle(s) of glue, a can of salt, paper, and food coloring.  Let's have some fun painting with salt and glue! 

First comes the glue.... 

Begin making "firework-like" designs with the white glue on black paper, such as asterisks and swirls.

And, YAY! for an activity that sneaks in fine motor skills!  Squeezing the glue is great for strengthening those little hands!  If you are "new-ish" around here, you may not have realized that we are BIG on sharing fine motor activities you can do at home.  Fine motor skills are important for little ones to develop as fine motor muscles are necessary when eating, dressing oneself, tying shoes, writing, etc!  I strongly encourage you to let your child squeeze the glue from the bottle.  So FYI, it may be helpful to have a full bottle of glue for little ones.

Then comes the salt...

Fair warning, that you may want to have an extra package of salt for your cooking purposes.   You want the salt to land ON the glue, but even trying to show my kids how to sprinkle the salt on using fingers and/or with a spoon... it was much easier to just dump piles of salt and then tilt the picture side to side to spread the salt over the glue.

 
Dump the excess salt in the trash, or dump it into a bowl if planning on creating more salt painting art.

Then comes the watered down food coloring (or liquid watercolor)

The kids convinced me that fireworks were LOTS of different colors-- not just red and blue, so their fireworks were much more colorful!  

 
Gently encourage your children to drop the water on the salt, otherwise the rest of your paper will look very watered down.

Again at the risk of sounding like a broken record, squeezing the pipettes is great for encouraging those fine motor skills to develop!

I just love the fireworks against the black construction paper! Looks like they are exploding in the night sky-- just like real ones!

Your salt painting fireworks art will be fairly heavy.  If you want to hang up you firework art, I suggest taping all four corners down and hanging it where there won't be a lot of foot traffic or little hands able to touch it.  Salt painting IS fun, but constantly stepping on salt is not! HA!!  Enjoy your Salt and Glue Fireworks craft for your nation's Independence Day... or just because! 

Not only is this a festive twist on the classic salt and glue craft, but as I mentioned a few times above, it's great for working on fine motor skills, too.  Kids of all ages, but especially preschoolers will love squeezing the glue, pouring salt, and squirting colored water to make fireworks!  I mean, I even had fun creating my own fireworks scene!

MORE INDEPENDENCE DAY CRAFTS

• 4th of July Noise Maker

• DIY 4th of July Hand Print T-Shirt Tutorial

• 12 Easy Patriotic Fine Motor Activities

•  Easy No-Mess Fireworks Craft

• American Flag Craft

More Fine Motor Fridays Activities: 

• Fine Motor Skills with Crazy Straws from Powerful Mothering

• Disney Craft: Frozen Fractals Fine Motor Collage from Lalymom

• Engineering With Legos Sensory Bin And More from Little Bins For Little Hands

• Sand Drizzle Sculptures from Still Playing School

• Fine Motor Flower Print Craft from House of Burke