Here’s a project I remember doing with Travis when he was a toddler, and the seeming “magic” of it never grows old. I told Veronika that today she was going to paint a rainbow!

To set up, line the bottom of a shallow tray with construction paper, arranging the pieces in rainbow order.

Oddly, our pack of paper doesn’t include purple, so I quickly colored a white piece with purple marker to fix that! Tape down the pieces of paper so they overlap. It’s helpful to use clear tape along all the seams, so salt doesn’t slip in between the sheets in the next step.

Now just cover the paper with a layer of table salt!

I showed Veronika the tray and handed her a paintbrush. “Paint?” she asked. She began swirling the paintbrush through and immediately saw blue.

A huge smile appeared on her face. As she worked, she uncovered all the colors of the rainbow.

Of course she got a little impish and enjoyed sweeping salt out of the box for a time, too.

You can make this educational by drawing big letters or shapes in the salt. (Hint: it might make for good sightword practice if you’re homeschooling a kindergartner, too!).

But mostly Veronika just had fun, seeing what color would magically rise to the surface next as she brushed through each portion of the tray.

You’ll notice that the tray was great fun to sit in, even after we’d dumped the salt!