Salt Painted Christmas Tree Activity

Salt paintings are one of our favorite fine motor craft activities these days. My preschooler loves the activity, and is always asking for us to make some other object with a salt glue painting. This time, she asked for a salt painted Christmas tree. It was a lot of fun to make this craft, and the precision necessary to get it to work right is beneficial for kids learning how to write, hold their pencils, and practice fine motor skills. Kids of all ages can try this craft, but the younger the child, the bigger the mess.

Salt painting is all about precision, which makes it a wonderful fine motor activity for little ones. We’ve tried this activity with sugar, but it doesn’t have the same results, so you definitely need salt. We like to use coarse salt (but not rock salt).

Make the outline of a Christmas tree onto card stock paper with the white glue. I recommend using card stock paper, rather than construction paper, because the card stock paper is just thick enough to resist absorbing the water and bleeding through the paper.

Cover the entire Christmas tree in salt, like you would for glitter.

Shake off any excess.

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!

Dip the paintbrush into the chosen color, then gently touch it to the salt lines. The color will spread, and you can keep adding paint until the entire Christmas tree is covered in color.

Be careful to keep the tree flat, or the colors will run (particularly in the ornament dot section). Wait until the tree dries fully before sending it home with the kiddos (usually overnight).