Fall Leaf Art Preschool Salt Painting

I have yet to meet a teacher that doesn’t love summer. But, fall?! What an exciting, beautiful, wonderful time of year! It’s the promise of an AMAZING school year, combined with cooler weather, sports, and other fun fall activities. Fall leaf salt painting for preschoolers combine fall’s vibrant colors with the science of changing seasons for the perfect hands-on learning opportunity.

This Fall Leaf Art Preschool Salt Painting craft is the best! You only need a few supplies (water colors, salt and glue) to create an engaging art experience for all. Add this salt painting craft for preschool to your list of fall-themed activities today.

Benefits of Salt Painting in Preschool

Art projects are an integral part of preschool learning activities because they teach important concepts. Painting with salt in preschool is also a bit of a science lesson as students experience the magic of colors absorbing into the salt. Experimenting with watercolors helps reinforce important concepts like color saturation and blending.

Watercolor paint really takes a bit of practice to master. Allowing our youngest learners to experiment with what happens to colors when you add water will prime them for future projects using the same medium.

Painting helps develop fine motor skills by gripping the brush and dipping into the liquid watercolors. It can also meld into any preschool theme your class is doing. The leaf craft for kids easily adapts to any shape, even numbers and letters.

Art activities for kids also help develop confidence, language, and visual processing. There’s no question that whether your students are creating a fall tree or leaf or a winter snowstorm, they are benefiting in many ways.

How to Create the Fall Leaf Art Preschool Salt Painting

How to:

• Trace around the shape with glue.

• Sprinkle the glue with salt as you would with glitter. Lift and shake to remove excess salt, ensuring that it has adhered to the outlines of the shape only.
• Dip the paintbrush into water and blend with watercolor to soften. Saturate the brush with watercolor. Gently touch the paintbrush to the salt. The color will spread like magic!

• Allow to dry completely before displaying or sending home.

*TIP: Use a few drops of food coloring in a small amount of water if you don’t have watercolor paints.

Ideas to Teach Fall Leaves Salt Painting

Teachers have a lot of options with this activity. It allows you to delve into the science of the changing seasons or the science of the salt absorbing the color. Or, you can simply let them get creative with shapes and glue!

You might consider using card stock in fall colors so the leaves turn out to be two-toned works of art.

Depending on the dexterity of your students, they will likely not trace perfect lines. It’s okay! Breathe. Even if your students’ fall leaf crafts turn into blobs of glue and salt, they will learn something from the experience.

Consider other fall shapes, too, like pumpkins from a pumpkin patch, apples, or gourds. Choose line simplicity that will match the fine motor dexterity of your students.

If you think your students might have a hard time tracing fine lines, consider pre-cutting leaf shapes so the project will resemble a leaf regardless of any creative licensing your preschoolers indulge in.