Learn how to make a Jellyfish Salt Painting with your kids. This is yet another fun and easy example of Sea Animal Crafts for Kids, that you can use during a summer or under the sea theme in your classroom.
The Summer break can be tough on parents who aren’t used to having their kids home every day. If you’re trying to get ready for this Summer, then start with these Summer activities for kids. Or invest in the Summer Activity Pack, which is filled with educational ideas for young kids.
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More Summer Arts and Crafts to try
Making kids art ideas is a great way to spend some time with your children during the summer break. If you love getting creative, then try some of these other summer themed kids crafts.
- Paper Plate Doughnut Craft
- Black Glue Sun Art
- Bubble Wrap Lemonade Craft
- Egg Carton Floating Whale
- Egg Carton Turtle
For more ideas, take a look at these 40 Summer Crafts for Kids.
Materials Needed
- Watercolor paper
- School glue
- Salt
- Watercolor paints
- Paintbrushes
- The free Jellyfish printable template
- A cookie sheet or tray
How to make a Jellyfish Salt Painting
Step 1. Download and print the jellyfish pdf
There is a free jellyfish template for you to download and use at the bottom of the post.
However, you can also just draw a jellyfish with a pencil. Older children will probably like to design their jellyfish from scratch.
2. Trace the lines with school glue
Use a bottle of liquid glue with a twist cap. Open the lid slightly and use it to trace the lines of the jellyfish with glue.
The more open your lid is, the thicker the line of glue will be. You can always have fun experimenting with the different sizes of lines while you do this step.
3. Cover the glue in salt
Sprinkle salt all over the glue, until the entire picture is covered.
This step is particularly easy if you’ve got a cookie sheet handy. Placing your picture in the cookie sheet means that it’s easy to shake and tilt the picture to move the salt into place.
Shake off any excess salt and let your picture dry before moving onto the next step.
4. Paint the salt with watercolors
Once the glue is dry, your art project is ready to paint.
Use watercolor paint and a paintbrush to gently apply the colors to the salt. Your kids will have lots of fun watching the salt soak up the colors.
If you like, you can also try applying the watercolors using a pipette instead. Older kids, with more developed fine motor skills, will probably have a great time trying this method.
Once the jellyfish is complete, let your picture dry.
What You’re Learning
Creativity
Let your kids draw their own jellyfish to begin with, or paint the printable one however they like.
After their initial delight with the salt painting, my kids then decided to continue painting on the paper in between the salt.
Fine Motor Skills
Squeezing the bottle of glue, or the pipette is a great way to strengthen the fine motor muscles in the hands.
Tracing the lines of the jellyfish printable is also a wonderful way to develop hand-eye coordination.
Planning and Organization
This jellyfish salt painting has several steps that need to be done in a specific order for this picture to work.
Organizing the required materials beforehand, as well as planning out each step before you do it, is a great way for kids to strengthen their executive functioning skills.
Science
Learn about color mixing by placing two primary colors next to each other on the line of salt. They will mix together and you’ll end up with a secondary color in between them.
This is also a fantastic opportunity to talk to your class about jellyfish or sea creatures in general.
Are you going to try this Jellyfish Salt Painting with your kids?
Don’t forget to pin the idea for later.
This electronic file is for personal and classroom use only. It is not for commercial purposes. By using it, you agree that you will not copy or reproduce the file except for your own personal, non-commercial use.
Get over 80+ pages of Summer themed play based learning activities and craft templates. Perfect for preschool and kindergarten.
