# Epsom Salt Painting
> Mix heaping spoonfuls of Epsom salt with liquid watercolors and a little water to make a grainy, sparkly paint. Kids brush or pour it onto paper, and it dries into shimmering, textured process art.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/art-activities-epsom-salt-painting/
- Ages: 3–8 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: medium
- Time: prep 10 min, activity 30 min
- Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class · one batch serves about 2 kids
- Skills: process-art, fine-motor, sensory-exploration, color-mixing, creativity
- Cautions: food-dye, ingestion-risk

## Materials (one batch)
- 2 tbsp Epsom salt
- Liquid watercolors
- Water (household)
- 6 piece Small bowls (household)
- 6 piece Paintbrushes
- 1 piece Cup of water for rinsing brushes (household)
- 1 sheet White paper
- 1 piece Table cover or old sheet (optional) (household)

## Substitutions
- Instead of liquid watercolors: Food color plus water (The author's first version. It looked beautiful, but kids have to scoop out the salt to get enough on the paper. She found liquid watercolors more vibrant with a better texture.)
- Instead of liquid watercolors: Corn syrup plus food coloring (A reader mixed Epsom salt with corn syrup and food coloring to the consistency she wanted. It dries in a few hours with a shimmery effect and works best in low humidity.)

## Safety
- Epsom salt and the paint are not food. Don't let kids eat them, and supervise young children closely. Swallowed Epsom salt can upset the stomach.
- Salt crystals can sting eyes and small cuts. Wash hands after painting.
- Liquid watercolors and food color can stain hands, clothes and surfaces. Cover the table.
- Dried salt flakes off the paper, so sweep or wipe up loose crystals afterward.

## Steps
1. Put a couple of heaping tablespoons of Epsom salt into each of 6 small bowls.
2. Set out brushes and a cup of water for rinsing.
3. Add a different liquid watercolor to each bowl, plus just a bit of water.
4. Stir and keep adding color until the paint is spreadable yet grainy.
5. Paint on paper, scooping up plenty of salt with each stroke.
6. Try painting different colors side by side to see the textures.
7. For pour painting, pour the colors onto the paper in a pattern and blend them with brushes.
8. Let the paintings dry flat and watch the salt crystals shine.

## Tips
- The Epsom salt absorbs a large amount of liquid watercolors. Keep adding liquid colors until you get a spreadable yet grainy mixture.
- Paint outdoors on a sunny afternoon. The Epsom salt creates a sparkling effect, and the art shines, literally.
- If you use the thinner food color and water version, make sure kids scoop out enough salt onto the paper.
- Once the salt paint dried, the paintings turned out even more beautiful. The Epsom salt crystals shone like diamonds.
- This is open-ended process art. Let kids explore colors and textures their own way.
- The salt tends to fall off once the paint dries. The author has seen people spray this kind of art with a sealant, maybe hair spray, but hasn't tried it.
- One reader suggested mixing some PVA glue into the paint to help the salt stick. This is untested. (from readers)
- A reader's corn syrup and food coloring version dries in a few hours with a shimmery effect and works great in low-humidity areas. (from readers)

## FAQ
**How do I preserve the paintings?** The author isn't sure. The salt tends to fall off once the paint dries. She has seen people spray this kind of art with a sealant, possibly hair spray, but hasn't tested it.
**Can we paint on a canvas and hang it on the wall?** The author warns that the salt tends to fall off once dry. One reader suggested adding PVA glue to the paint to help it stick, but nobody reported trying it.
**Why use liquid watercolors instead of food color?** The author's food color and water version looked beautiful, but kids had to scoop out the salt. Liquid watercolors gave a more vibrant paint with a better, grainy texture.

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2013)

We have been enjoying simple art activities in the past few days. We did a **1 minute puffy paint art activity,** we painted with [**large vehicles**](https://www.funlittles.com/art-activities-vehicles-painting/), [**painted with an electronic toothbrush**](https://www.funlittles.com/art-activities-for-a-lazy-day/) and many more. All of these art activities are very easy to set up and need only a few things. Continuing in the same line, we did a fun and easy art activity with Epsom salt.  I started with adding a couple of heaping table spoons of epsom salt to 6 small bowls. I also set out brushes and a cup of water. Then my daughter added drops of food color and water to each bowl to make salt "paint"



. 

The salt art looked beautiful! But she had to scoop out the salt and make sure she had enough salt when creating on the paper. Besides that I figured that the paint would have much better effect if it were more vibrant and had a better texture. So we moved to another kind of paint and continued with our art activities.

This paint contained **heaping tablespoons of Epsom salt mixed with liquid water colors** and a bit of water( just a bit). As you can see the paint has a characteristic grainy texture which transfer beautifully to the paper.



The Epsom salt absorbs a large amount of liquid water colors. Keep adding liquid colors until you get a spreadable yet grainy mixture. Once you star painting the Epsom salt creates a sparking effect which only makes it more beautiful if you are doing this outdoors on a sunny afternoon. The art shines, literally.

She drew a beautiful jungle scene of course because my older loves anything wild life and we have done so many animal activities. Can you spot a giraffe, a lion and apparently a flying squirrel?



Both of us collaborated and explored painting with different colors side by side. Experimenting with different colors with varying textures has always been interesting for that kid.



Here are all our shiny salt **art projects** we did that sunny afternoon. It was so much fun!



Once she was done painting, she tried pour painting. All she did was pour all the colors in a pattern she thought was cool and started blending them with paint brushes.



Once the salt paint dried they turned out even more beautiful. The Epsom salt crystals shone like diamonds.







This is definitely open-ended process art. I'm not sure how to preserve Epsom Salt Painting, may be seal with hair spray?

**If you haven't tried the original raised salt painting, take a look at this post by clicking on the image. Wonderful!**

**For more [art activities](https://www.funlittles.com/category/art-projects/) visit our category page by clicking on the red link.**

**Thanks for reading**