Fun Ocean Theme Salt Painting

Kick-off your ocean theme activities with an awesome STEAM project! This cool ocean theme craft is very easy to make with just a few simple materials from the kitchen. Combine art with science with STEAM learning, and discover about absorption. We love ocean activities for preschoolers and beyond!

OCEAN THEME CRAFT: WATERCOLOR SALT PAINTING ART

OCEAN THEME CRAFT

Get ready to add this simple ocean craft and STEAM activity to your lesson plans this season. If you want to learn more about combining art and science for STEAM, let’s grab the supplies. While you’re at it, make sure to check out these other fun ocean activities.

Our science activities and experiments are designed with you, the parent or teacher, in mind! Easy to set up, quick to do, most activities will take only 15 to 30 minutes to complete and are heaps of fun! Plus, our supplies lists usually contain only free or cheap materials you can source from home!

Click here for your FREE Printable Ocean Activities.

OCEAN THEME CRAFT: SALT ART

Combine a popular kitchen tool and a bit of physics for cool art and science that everyone is sure to love! Even take this STEAM activity outside on a lovely day.

YOU WILL NEED:

Blowfish, starfish, and bubbles printable sheets – Click here
Color copy paper or markers and crayons
Glue
Scissors
Watercolors
Watercolor paper
Paintbrushes
Salt

supplies needed for salt painting ocean craft

HOW TO MAKE AN OCEAN SALT PAINTING

Before starting your salt painting, make sure to protect your work surface. Cover the area with newspaper, tablecloth, or shower curtain for easy cleanup.

Then download and print out your ocean theme pufferfish, starfish, and bubbles! You will see I recommend printing on different colors of copy paper, but you can also print it all on white paper and have the kids use markers, crayons or oil pastels to color the pictures.

DOWNLOAD PUFFERFISH AND STARFISH HERE

TIP: Alternatively, you could use stencils on the paper, and apply the same salt painting effect to them as well. Use oil pastels for resist art to create details in the creatures.

1. Coat the watercolor paper in water until it’s damp but not soaked. Watercolor paper is highly recommended for salt painting activities and will yield a nicer finished project!

TIP: Watercolor paper is made to handle all the extra water! Construction paper or copy paper is more likely to tear and rip off during the process.

2. Select your paint colors. Different shades of blue with touches of green and yellow will make for a pretty ocean background. Using a paintbrush add the watercolors to the damp paper until you are happy with the results.

TIP: Draw in details with oil pastels for added texture. Draw waves, seaweed, coral, or even small fish to create a richer textured background for your blowfish and starfish.

3. While the paper is still wet, sprinkle pinches of salt across the surface and let the science begin! Read more below.

TIP: Spread the salt so you don’t have little piles of salt left on the paper.

4. Allow your ocean salt painting to dry completely and then glue on your sea creatures and bubbles. You can even make your own additions of seaweed or fish!

TIP: Create your own creatures if desired or use our handy downloads!

THE SCIENCE OF SALT PAINTING

Adding salt to the damp paper creates mini explosions within the watercolors for a really neat effect on the paper. This effect is because of something called absorption. It’s similar to the salt painting with glue activities you may have done before with your kids.

Salt absorbs water moisture because it is attracted to highly polar water molecules. This property means that salt is hygroscopic. Hygroscopic means that it absorbs both liquid water (food coloring mixture) and water vapor in the air.

You could also try adding sugar for a fun science experiment and compare the results!

STEAM combines art and science which is exactly what this watercolor salt painting has done. This ocean craft is easy to add to an ocean theme or changed up to fit any theme you are working on.