I know that Halloween is still a few weeks away but my Halloween crafts for kids have been super popular. I love to add a few new ideas to my site and have been wanting to try salt painting for a while. This week I finally had time and wanted to share our salt painted pumpkin with you. It’s a really fun but effective STEM craft for kids and brings some much needed colour to these days. The equipment needed is quite minimal but you will need a simple colouring page printed on white thick card.

Salt painted pumpkin equipment:

Watercolour paint palette

Water

Paintbrush

White card

White glue

Salt

Easy salt painted pumpkin craft

Trace around the image on the colouring page with the white glue. 

Sprinkle glue with salt as you would with glitter. Tap the paper to settle the salt into any grooves. Gently lift the paper and shake to remove the excess salt.

Dip paintbrush in water and blend with watercolour to soften. Saturate the paintbrush with watercolour. Then, gently touch the paintbrush to the salt. The colour will spread.

When you have painted the pumpkin, use green for the stalk. 

Allow the picture to dry completely before displaying or gifting.

What makes this a fun Halloween STEM activity? Salt is a hygroscopic compound that is strongly attracted to and absorbs water. Being hygroscopic means salt can absorb water from liquid or vapour in humid air. The salt quickly attracts and absorbs the water before it touches the paper, allowing the water to only colour the salt lines.