"Absorbing Artwork"

Since it has been so hot during our Water, Water Everywhere week for MOMS Camp, I have been glad to find lots of water craft ideas to do in the cool air conditioning! Here is an idea I have been saving for a long time: "Absorbing Artwork". Molly (4) really loves using glue, so I knew she would love it and I thought this week was the perfect time to try it.

This idea came from a Family Fun Magazine. First, I let Molly squiggle glue all over a piece of paper. Then, we covered it with salt until all the glue was completely covered, and shook off the access as if we were using glitter. Next we filled several small containers with colored water: I had her add five drops per tablespoon of water for each color. The idea is to drop water onto the salt one drop at a time, and the salt absorbs it and your colors spread along the designs you drew with glue! The magazine called for an eye dropper, but we just washed out a dropper from off a baby Tylenol bottle to use.


This was surprisingly not messy, except for extra salt that got spilled on the table. Molly did a great job with the dropper. We also used a container of clear water to suck up and clean the dropper, then had an empty container to squirt that in so our colors never mixed. Molly ended up making four of these "paintings" and I even did one myself because it looked like so much fun! Be careful when you move them to a drying spot because the colors will run if the paper tips on accident. Also, the magazine called for card stock but it's not needed, although I wouldn't recommend printer paper. We used white construction paper. Finally, it dries kinda funky and the salt can chunk off, so just be gentle to preserve your awesome absorbing artwork!