Firework Salt Painting
Explore visual arts while practicing fine motor skills with this quick and easy Firework Salt Painting. Learning about chemical reactions has never been more fun with this painting for kids activity. Don’t forget to add it to your next science preschool theme!
This month, we’re learning all about science and this week’s chemistry lessons have definitely been a blast. We’ve painted with ice, made a liquid-solid glue blob, created texture art, and today we’re exploring chemical reactions with firework salt painting.
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A huge thanks to Experience Early Learning (formerly Mother Goose Time) for providing us with their Experience Preschool curriculum for free in exchange for sharing our honest and authentic stories resulting from our personal experiences. It’s been such a huge blessing to us! As always, my opinions on awesome stuff for little kids are 100% my own.
Today we’re exploring the question, “When might you hear something loud?” We learned that a chemical reaction can be seen or heard and we made noises by clapping our hands and stomping our feet.
Fireworks are a great kid-friendly example of chemistry in real life. After all, my little learners were mesmerized by the fireworks on the fourth of July. Did you know that fireworks are made using metal salts that produce intense colors when they’re burned?
Reactions happen when substances undergo a chemical change and create a different substance.
We enjoyed researching together to learn which metals create each of our favorite colors. Keep reading to create your very own firework salt painting craft!
Firework Salt Painting
What you’ll need
- Inspiration Photo
- Paper
- Salt
- Watercolors
- Paintbrushes
- Glue
Here’s how to do it
Set Up
- Set out the Inspiration Photo and additional supplies.
Prompts
- What colors or designs do you see in the photo?
- How might fireworks work? Explain that fireworks are chemical reactions that cause light to explode in the sky.
- Invite children to squeeze glue onto paper to create firework designs. Sprinkle salt onto the glue and shake off excess.
- What might happen if you drip watercolors on the salt? Encourage children to lightly paint over their designs with a very wet paintbrush.
Observe
- Does the child use the materials to create the desired effect of the watercolor spreading?
We used liquid watercolor and an eyedropper for our firework salt painting, but you can use paintbrushes too. Either way, your little learners will be getting lots of fine motor practice.
July is the perfect time to explore fireworks with this simple firework salt painting for kids. It’s quick and easy to draw firework shapes on black construction paper using white glue. When you’re finished, pour salt onto the black paper.
After that, your kiddos can shake off the excess salt and then use watercolor paints with either a brush or droppers to add color to their fireworks.
We almost always paint on a plastic tray, but you could also use a cookie sheet to keep your work area clean.
This painting for kids July craft activity is so much fun and would be perfect for New Year’s Eve too. The beautiful swirls and blends of colors created by dripping watercolour paints on salt are also a great way to introduce the concept of color mixing to your preschool and kindergarten learners.
Today’s lesson was also the perfect opportunity to talk about fire safety. We discussed what fire safety rules we know and read about Alfred Nobel. Did you know that many of his experiments used to blow up or cause fires? He’s probably most well known for his invention of dynamite.
Chemistry Activities for Kids
We love learning about chemistry and I’m sure your little kids will too. Throughout the years, we’ve done lots of fun and engaging activities while learning about properties of matter, states of matter, mixtures, chemical reactions, and of course molecules. Here are a few of our favorites:
- Create a Liquid-Solid Blob with this States of Matter Activity. Learn about the differences between solids and liquids while making this fun science craft.
- Explore chemical reactions with your preschoolers using this Quick & Easy Salt Painting Idea for Preschoolers.
- This Ice Painting for Kids is a quick and easy way to introduce chemistry to your little learners. Discuss properties of matter with this simple process art activity.
- Learn about the color wheel and color mixing while exploring mixtures with this Inventing New Colors with Food Coloring and Water.
- This Chemical Reactions with Baking Soda and Vinegar STEAM activity is perfect for exploring chemical reactions in a fun and meaningful way.
Don’t forget to check back if you’re interested in seeing what we’re up to next week with our Science Lab preschool theme from Experience Preschool!
