Epsom salt 'Snow project!'

This project was so much fun! I stopped by Pat's office to find a painting to inspire my next lesson and she gave me this whole lesson idea! It was perfect for December.....even if we are in Arizona. (Or should I say, ESPECIALLY since we are in Arizona!!) First we read the book "Snow" by Uri Shulevitz. We talked about the art in the book just as we would have talked about a single painting. For the project I had the kids use a dark blue sheet of construction paper, and oil pastel crayons to draw themselves in snow clothes in some sort of winter scene. We talked about different textures of warm cloths, and how we might draw those textures using different patterns, and shapes. Then I had them all paint a thin layer of equal parts epsom salt/water over the entire drawing with a foam brush. Next I gave them a supersaturated (or the closest I got to it) Epsom mixture that they used to make heavy snow patterns on top of their mountains...on the ground...on snowballs..ect. It didn't take long for the mixture to start changing but the coolest part is that it takes days for the epsom salt to fully crystallize and look like snow.





This one was right after we finished that day...



Here are all of the kids projects a week later....notice the tiny crystals formed.





My son Andin's teacher told me the kids loved watching the paintings up on the wall change each day! It was such a fun lesson! Not sure how to link the lesson plan to the blog...but if you want it please email me and I'll forward it to you. andyland23@gmail.com I also found that boiling the Epsom salt and water together worked best for me. You can find Epsom salt in the pharmacy section.