Salt Painting

So it begins. The rain.

Ah, the one thing I didn't miss whatsoever while we lived in Idaho.

No more sending my kiddos out with no clothes to play outside (for the record, they both prefer to be without clothes....I decided not to fight it while the weather was warm.....pick your battles.)

Now it is time to get creative once again. Besides the typical coloring, trains, and tag that seems to happen daily....I truly like to throw in something a little different, especially for Cole. So when Bennett heads off to his nap, Cole and I prepare to do something fun, just the two of us.

Lately he has been my little Monet.

I had a picture of him painting with just a shirt on (someone didn't want to take a break from his masterpiece to use the potty....) But I decided to spare him from plastering his cute little buns on the internet.

Anyways, the other day Cole had used up all of his paints. Not having the time to run to the store to get more, I decided to turn to my ever-so-helpful Pinterest board. I came across Salt Painting.

Brilliant.

Seriously, to who ever came up with this idea you should get a gold star! It provided at least a good hour of pure fun for my little guy, and it was sooooo simple to get set up.

Here is what you need:

1. Paper (preferably a thicker paper, we just tore out pages from his favorite coloring book...and as you can see it soak up quite a bit of water, but still did the trick!)
2. Glue (good old Elmer's works great!)
3. Salt
4. Cups filled with 1 tbls water and about 6 drops of food coloring.
5. Paintbrush
6. A cute little kid

Good thing I have all of those things on hand at all times, especially #6. :)

All you do is create a drawing with the glue (or trace something like we did). Then sprinkle salt over the glue (Cole LOVED helping with this part!). Then carefully dip the paintbrush into colored water and lightly touch it to the salted glue.....the color will spread along the lines you created. And amazement will proceed!

We went through page after page of his coloring book. And I'm pretty positive this activity will resurface over and over again throughout this rainy season.

I like that it gives me a chance to enjoy a hot cup of tea or coffee as I cheer on his masterpieces in the making.

The one and only downside of this activity is that you really can't save the pictures, the salt falls off and gets everywhere. But for me, that's kind of nice because it's a no brainer to throw them away rather than hoarding them in some miscellaneous drawer. :)

Now excuse me while I go do the "hot dog dance" with my little boy.