Salt Crystal Painting STEAM Activity

By now you are familiar with STEM activities, but do you know about STEAM?

It takes STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) to a whole new level by incorporating art!

These activities are all the rage these days for two big reasons. They are a TON of fun and they get kids thinking critically and using even more areas of their brains! And raising creative, problem solvers is something we are all striving to do.

Try this salt crystal painting STEAM activity to add a extra fun (and learning!) to your day!

Salt Crystal Painting

Materials:

• White cardstock
• White school glue
• Table salt
• Pipette or eye dropper
• 4 cups
• Food coloring
• Water

Instructions:

1. Pour water into four cups, to just fill them partially.
2. Place a few drops of food coloring into each of the cups of water and stir to combine the color well.
3. Draw a design onto the front of a piece of white cardstock with a bottle of white school glue. The design can be anything you like.
4. Sprinkle some table salt over the top of the design that you created with the glue. Do this before the glue has dried so that the salt sticks to it well. You will want to do this over a garbage can or other container to catch the extra salt and avoid making a mess.
5. You can either wait for the glue to dry, or move directly on to coloring your creation. Using a pipette or eye dropper, drop colored water down over the different parts of your salt crystal drawing. Try to drop the water only onto the salt crystals themselves, and not onto the actual cardstock. You can mix colors to see what new shades they make.
6. Set the salt crystal drawing to the side for several hours to dry completely before displaying.  

Experiment with different designs and colors to see how your salt crystal paintings change. You can even try different different backdrops like cardboard and tin foil to see how those effect your paintings.

Getting kids to start to problem solve like scientists while being creative just starts with the project. The real fun begins when you begin to make it your own!

See the art and science magic in action:

More Science Fun for Kids

The fun doesn’t have to stop here! We’ve got lots of STEAM projects your kids will love!

Check out our HUGE list of super cool science experiment for kids. You’ll find a ton to keep you busy and learning!