Fireworks Salt Painting Craft

I remember when we were young each year we'd travel all the way into the city and spend hours setting up a picnic to secure the perfect spot to watch the fireworks at Southbank. We looked forward to it all year. We loved all the different colours, shapes, sizes and the fact that they appear out of nowhere. They're just so magical, especially for little kids. 

Unfortunately fireworks are also quite loud, so unless you want to invest in a pair of headphones, sometimes it's best to watch them on the TV not up close, particularly for children with sensory issues. My girls don't like crowds and aren't fans of loud noises so we haven't ventured out for live fireworks yet, but we have found another way to join in with fireworks celebrations. We create fireworks salt painting process art at home.

Fireworks salt painting is a great process art activity for preschoolers, and a great classroom activity too. It's also a great stem activity, combining art process and science concepts like absorption. It can get a little bit messy though, so if you're doing it inside you'll probably want to use a tray and a splash mat or plastic table cloth. Art smocks might be a good idea too if the kids get a little too excited by glue and painting. Alternatively set it up outside and just let the kids wear old clothes you don't mind getting dirty.

MATERIALS NEEDED FOR SALT PAINTING

• Table salt
• PVA Glue
• Pipettes
• Black paper or black cardstock
• Food colouring + water OR
• Watercolour paints {optional}

For the salt painting itself you will need some table salt {yep the same kind you eat for dinner}, some PVA craft glue with a squeeze lid, black paper or cardstock, pipettes, food colouring and water. You can also use liquid watercolours, or very wet colours from a watercolour tray. We created our own watercolour paint by adding a few drops of food colouring to some water {the more food colouring the better if you want vibrant fireworks}.

The easiest way to create the salt painting is to have everything set up on a tray ready to go so it can be accessed easily and quickly whilst the kids are creating their masterpiece. The tray helps to define the work space and contain the mess and makes it easy to collect excess salt. We put our salt into a shallow dish which made it easy to pour onto the picture and we collected the excess salt back into the dish to keep using so there was no wastage. The food colouring mixture I set up in tall clear plastic jars with individual pipettes so it was easy to choose a colour and we could work on multiple pictures at the same time.

HOW TO CREATE A FIREWORKS SALT PAINTING

1. Squeeze glue out into fireworks shapes on the paper/cardstock. The easiest way to create a firework burst is to start from a middle point and squeeze slightly curved lines outwards from the centre. However, as with real fireworks, each one is unique so there's no right or wrong way to create a firework and part of the fun of process art is to celebrate all the different designs that inevitably arise.

2. While the glue is still wet liberally pour salt over the top of it. Don't worry if the kids are a little heavy handed with the salt application, the more the better! If you're using a tray it's quite easy to collect the excess salt and keep using it for more paintings so there's no wastage.

3. Carefully tip the excess salt off. Slowly lift the picture upright over the tray and gently shake it so the excess salt falls off. There may be some areas where it's clumped so you may have to gently poke the paper/cardstock from behind those sections to make the excess fall away. You should be left with a salt crusted firework like below. Set aside the pictures at this point until the glue has dried.

4. Slowly drip food colouring mixture {or watercolour paint} onto the salt with a pipette. To make the fireworks come alive slowly add colour with a pipette. The salt will quickly absorb the liquid so it's easiest to do single drops at a time so it doesn't become too saturated {but I'm a realist and we all know this is the part where it can get quite messy, so I suggest having paper towel on hand to soak up any excess}. Once the colour has been applied you should have a vibrant fireworks art piece.

When we did our paintings we used primary colours and blended some together to add in some colour mixing learning. It was a great way to hypothesize what colours would be created then see if they were correct. It was also interesting to see how the salt absorbed the two different colours. 

Learning Opportunities with salt painting

- Pincer grip
- Hand strengthening
- Hand/eye co-ordination
- Colours & colour blending
- Water absorption

Fireworks salt paintings are a great way to celebrate New Year's Eve and can also be used to create craft for other holidays like 4th of July, Australia Day, River Fire or local show days {we have the Ekka here in Queensland}. Keep in mind that salt painting isn't 100% permanent as the salt will continue to absorb the colour over time, so the fireworks may dull in colour as time goes on, and eventually the salt will start to come away. If you're looking for other fun fireworks craft try toilet paper roll fireworks painting or check out more ideas on my fireworks craft pinterest board.

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