Make beautiful snowstorm art with this easy winter painting project! These abstract paintings, covered with glue and epsom salt, bring stormy winter weather to life.
Process art is such a fun way for kids (and adults!) to express themselves creatively. This activity is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers, but is fun for any age group. These sparkly snowstorm paintings turn out so beautifully!
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DIY Winter Painting
Materials:
- White cardstock
- Acrylic paint (purple, blue, and white)
- White glue
- Epsom salt
Equipment:
- Scissors (optional; if cutting cardstock into smaller sizes)
Check Out The Video Tutorial:
Instructions:
Step 1: Find what you need
- Gather your supplies and materials.
Step 2: Paint winter colours on cardstock
- Set your cardstock on a tray or covered work area. We cut our sheet of cardstock into quarters to make four smaller paintings (4.25 x 5.5 inches), but you can also make your painting on a full sheet.Add purple, blue, and white paint to a palette or into small dishes.
- Use a paintbrush to add lines or splotches of your first colour (purple, in our case) to the cardstock.You can paint them horizontally, like a winter horizon, or just add them on randomly.
- Without washing your paintbrush in-between, add a second colour (blue in our case) to the paper.
- Fill the rest of the paper with white paint. We also painted over some of the previously painted areas to blend the colours and create lighter shades of blue and purple.
Step 3: Add glue to the painting
- Without waiting for the paint to dry, squeeze glue over top of the painting. You can add the glue in a specific pattern or just put it on randomly.
Step 4: Sprinkle epsom salt over the glue
- Sprinkle epsom salt over top of the wet glue.
- Let the paintings dry for about 2 hours, and then shake off any extra salt.
- Your winter painting is complete!
Helpful Tips:
- You don’t have to stick to purple, blue, and white paint! These colours definitely look the most wintery, but letting kids choose their own colours often results in awesome looking art!
- If you’d like the epsom salt to stick only to the glue (and not the paint), allow the paint to dry before adding glue.
How long do these winter paintings last?
Our winter paintings only lasted about two days. After that the epsom salt turned white and most of it fell off of our paintings. This is a super fun way to make art, but you probably won’t be hanging your snowstorm paintings on the fridge.
How do I prevent the salt from falling off?
The Epsom salt sticks well to the glue, but after a day or so it falls right off the acrylic paint. If you want the salt to stay on your painting, wait for the paint to dry before adding the glue. Then use a paintbrush to spread a generous amount of glue around your painting where you’d like the salt to be.
How do I keep the paper from curling?
We used cardstock for our art project because it’s thick enough to hold layers of paint – but it definitely curled up after it dried. Acrylic paper or watercolour paper, which are meant to be painted on, work well and will keep the paper from curling.
You can also cut out cardboard from a cereal box or buy inexpensive canvases at the dollar store.
What type of paint to use for winter painting?
We used acrylic paint, mostly because it’s what we have on hand. If you’re working with younger kids you may want to use tempera paint, which is washable. Watercolour paint would also work well for this art project.
Just keep in mind that the salt may not stick to the wet tempera and watercolour paint, so you may need to add more glue before you add your salt.
What if I don’t have epsom salt?
Epsom salt has a really nice icy look to it, but there are definitely other options to sprinkle on your paintings. You can use sea salt, kosher salt, or regular table salt. Each one has a unique texture and look, so experiment and see what you like best!
Confetti and glitter are fun non-salt options that would look great sprinkled on these winter paintings. They’ll also stick better to the glue and make your paintings last longer.
Stay nice and warm as you celebrate the winter season with these gorgeous (and simple!) snowstorm paintings. This type of process art helps increase fine motor skills, and is known to build focus and nurture creativity.
Each winter painting is unique, and there’s no wrong or right way to do it – making it the perfect mixed media art project for kids of all ages!
Here’s even more winter art project ideas:
How to Make Coffee Filter Snowflakes
Salt and Watercolour Snowflake Art
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
Amazon |  Barnes and Noble |  Books- A- Million |  Indiebound |  Indigo |  Amazon Canada
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