Salty Watercolors

This is one of my favorite art projects for just about any age kids or adults.  Different papers react to the salt differently, so try this one out before you do it with a group.

Did you know if you sprinkle salt on a still-wet watercolor it makes absolutely gorgeous crystal shapes on it?
Here are some dinosaur silhouette sunsets I did with 6-8 year olds.

We added construction paper cut-outs on top

Make sure the salt is the last step- painting over it will ruin the effect.  Different wetnesses provide different effects.  I've found it looks best when the paper is still quite damp to the touch, but not puddling.

This effect is also fun if you draw a snowman with white crayon on white paper, then paint over with blue and add salt.  It looks like snow!

The salt transformation is really fun and happens over the span of a couple of minutes.  When it's dry you may want to brush off the salt crystals with your hand, or leave them there because sometimes it makes the picture look sparkly!

Family Crests

This project was inspired by something my elementary school art teacher had us do.  Make a simple design on cardboard and trace over the pencil lines with white glue.  Let it dry well.  The next day, smear some glue stick on the cardboard and press a piece of tin foil over the top of it, pressing gently on the glue parts to make sure they show.  Wrap the foil around the edges of the crest and tape them or glue them on the back.  Crumple up a paper towel and blot it in black acrylic paint.  Gently rub it all over the design to "antique" it and bring out the details of your resist design.  Hang proudly!

Make your own scratch art paper

Scratch art paper is really expensive and is super easy to make.  Color a piece of paper heavily with crayon so there are no white spots left.  (Also, don't use black crayon.)  Paint over the whole thing with black paint- I've had good luck with acrylic, using a sponge brush.  Try to use as little as you can while still covering the color completely.  Let it dry (usually an hour or less) and then use a pointy-ish-but-not-too-pointy tool to scratch a drawing on the paper.  I've had luck using the back of a wooden matchstick, the not-pointy end of a wooden skewer, or a pen cap.

Most kids will want to go nuts and scratch off the whole thing.  It's a good idea to make one along with them to use as an initial sacrifice, so they can make an actual design on their own.

  Try this one out first- some papers and paints work better than others, so make sure you've got a good combo before making kids color till their hands go numb.

Super fun!