How to make Rainbow Coloured Salt - the easy way!

I love encouraging creativity in my kids during playtime! That’s one of the reasons I love sensory play and Coloured Salt is perfect for sensory activities as well as crafts! My little ones love to make artsy-crafts and I know how important it is for their developing skills and senses to explore their creative side. To make and explore your own coloured salt just scroll down to see how to make coloured salt the easy way!

MORE: rainbow crafts

Super-easy to do thanks to our step by step tutorial making coloured salt is a fun and hands-on way to teach your kids about colours. You can amaze them by teaching them the magic behind mixing primary colours together to make new colours like orange and purple!

Don't forget to check out our rainbow coloured spaghetti, rainbow coloured rice and our rainbow coloured playdough if you're looking for more rainbow-inspired sensory activities.

If your little one likes reading more than crafts, we have got you covered! Our list of must have rainbow books and toys will be just as fun.

Keep your eyes open for updates, there's a rainbow rice recipe coming soon!

How to make coloured salt

Whether you decide to make a rainbow coloured salt in a jar craft (as shown at the end of this tutorial) or use your coloured salt for sensory play, you are sure to have fun making and using this rainbow coloured salt with your kids.

Coloured Salt Supplies:

• Food colouring (primary colours)
• 6 plastic ziplock bags
• Salt
• Measuring cup
• Small funnel

If you are making a salt in the jar craft to display and look pretty you will also need a small plastic craft jar.

Directions for making Coloured Salt:

STEP 1: Prepare the salt

Before you being making your coloured salt you need to gather up all your supplies! Once you are ready begin by adding about a cup of salt into a plastic bag. Repeat this step 5 more times. You will need one bag for each of the colours of the rainbow. We made 6 not 7 colours as we decided only to do one purple rather than an indigo and a violet.

If you are trying to reduce your use of plastic and you don't want to use lots of plastic ziplock bags, make your coloured salt up one colour at a time, rinsing and drying the bag between colours. 

STEP 2: Mix salt and colouring

Let's start with the red coloured salt! Grab your red food colouring and add about ten drops into the first bag. Zip the bag up and mix the salt and food colouring with your fingers by massaging the bag. Blend everything until you have red-coloured salt.

STEP 3: A bit of colour mixing!

You are going to repeat step 2 for each colour of the rainbow. By just using food colouring in the primary colours you can use this opportunity to teach your children a little about colour mixing.

For the orange bag, you need to add five drops of red and five drops of yellow food colouring. Blend the salt and food colouring drops until you get orange-coloured salt.

For the green use 5 drops of blue and 5 drops of yellow (or a green food colouring).

STEP 4: Repeat, repeat and repeat!

Now you need to repeat the mixing and blending with the other colours of the rainbow. Use ten drops of yellow and add to another bag and use 10 drops of blue food colouring to create the blue salt into the fifth bag.

STEP 5: Make a bright purple

To create a gorgeous purple shade you need to mix eight drops of red food colouring and two drops of blue food colouring into one of the bags filled with salt. Remember to mix well until you get perfectly blended purple salt.

STEP 6: Let the salt dry

When you have mixed all the bags with coloured salt, open each bag and set aside.  This will allow the salt to dry. If you want the salt to dry quickly spread it out on a flat surface. Once your salt is dry it is ready to be used for crafts or sensory play.

What do you do with coloured salt?

Now you have made your coloured salt what do you do with it? You have a few options available. You could follow the directions below to make a rainbow salt in a jar craft to display to add a bit of colour to your room.

Alternatively you could use the salt for sensory play. Simply pour the coloured salt into a small tray with  a selection of scoops, containers and fine motor tools and see what your little one does with it. You could even add a few small animals or trucks.

Coloured salt is also brilliant for mark making. Pour enough coloured salt into a tray to cover the surface. Your child can then use a paint brush or their finger to make marks in the salt. They could draw patterns or practice writing letters or even words.

Our final idea is to use your coloured salt to make a picture as you would with sand art. Simply draw a picture (or print one out), add glue to one section of the picture at a time and sprinkle coloured salt on it in your chosen colour. Tip of any excess salt and repeat util you have filled your picture with coloured salt.

How to make a salt rainbow in a jar

These jars of rainbow coloured salt look so pretty! Once your coloured salt is dry use the funnel to add the first layered of coloured salt into the jar. Gently shake the jar to even out the salt layer. Repeat this step with each colour. Make sure the jar is filled to the top and then place the lid on. Your salt rainbow in a jar is now complete and ready to be displayed!

And there you have it! An eye-catching coloured salt rainbow in a jar, the perfect craft for artsy preschoolers.

Whether you decide to use your coloured salt to make a rainbow in a jar, for sensory play or for an art activity, we hope that you found this tutorial on how to make coloured salt helpful.

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