You’re going to love learning how to make colored salt for sensory play and art! It’s quick, easy, beautiful, and a much less expensive alternative to colored sand.
Interested in learning how to make colored salt? You’ve come to the right place
My mom loves colored sand, and we use it regularly for art, crafts, and sensory tables.
But it’s expensive. Absurdly expensive.
So, years ago, we started playing around with dyeing salt with liquid watercolors and food coloring, and it was the best discovery!
Related: Liquid watercolors are also GORGEOUS on our giant 10-foot coloring pages!
You kids will love learning how to make colored salt, too
A sensory table filled with colored salt is not only fun for kids to play with but also fun for them to make WITH you!
We love coloring salt with our preschoolers just as much as we enjoy using it.
Like kids who are more apt to trying foods they helped cook in the kitchen, kids are more likely to engage in a sensory table they helped make, too.
There are tons more DIY materials that you can make for a sensory table!
- How to Dye Chickpeas with Liquid Watercolors – Friends Art Lab
- How to Dye Rice with No Vinegar or Rubbing Alcohol – Friends Art Lab
- How to Dye Oats for Sensory Play – And Next Comes L
- How to Dye Dried Beans – Fun at Home with Kids
Materials
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- Salt – the regular, inexpensive tub of iodized salt
- Liquid watercolors or food coloring
- Zippered plastic bag – I use a gallon size
- Shallow tray – a baking sheet or casserole dish work well, too
How to Make Colored Salt
It’s unbelievably easy and almost impossible to mess up!
- Add 1-2 cups of salt into the large zippered bag.
- Add a small splash of coloring (start small, you can always add more color if you want or need to).
- Shake, shake, shake it up!
- Once the salt is colorful, spread it into a shallow container and allow it to dry. The time it takes to dry will vary based on how much color you use, whether inside or outside, the temperature, etc., but it’s pretty quick.
You have colorful salt right at your fingertips in just a few simple steps.
Note: Make the colored salt with your kids if you can!
What do you do with colored salt?
When I was a kid, my mom would take me to many craft fairs, and I loved the booths where you filled plastic necklaces and bottles with colored sand. If yours do, too, you can make them at home or school and fill them with your homemade colored salt.
My favorite way to use colored salt is in a sensory table!
Add as much colored salt as you’d like to a shallow container, add props and supplies, and your kids will know exactly what to do.
Ideas of materials to add to a salty sensory table:
- Feathers
- Tongs
- Gems
- Beads
- Pompoms
- Pipe cleaners
- Plastic gems
- Blocks
- Animal figurines
- Paintbrushes
This smooth, beautiful salt is stunning in large quantities and always makes for a popular sensory table with our preschoolers.
Related: You can use the same method to dye pasta, too!
FAQ
Salt ingested in large quantities can be dangerous, so make sure to only do this with kids who won’t try to ingest the materials (and always have appropriate adult supervision).
No, and that’s the best part! Store your dyed salt in an airtight container or bag and it can last for years!
Not only can you, but it’s one of my favorite parts of making salt! When it’s wet it’s moldable and a fun bonus activity.
Now that you know how to make colored salt, let the fun begin!
We love, love, love sensory play and DIY sensory fillers like colored salt.
What colors are you going to make first?
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