Flour and salt christmas ornaments

The Best Salt Dough (for Ornaments and Crafting!) to Make with the Kids

Learn how to make classic salt dough with the kids, with baking, painting, and storage info. This method is straight forward, easy, and thorough—and they a perfect kids holiday gift for grandparents, teachers, and loved ones!

Salt Dough 

This salt dough is a staple of childhood and I love doing this Christmas activity with my kids each year—and throughout the rest of the year too! We love to make salt dough handprints, ornaments, and sometimes, just any old shape they want to. It’s an easy project that we can do together—and then share as kid-made holiday gifts, keepsakes, or house decorations.

Salt Dough Recipe

Making salt dough at home is as easy as combining three pantry staples together into a dough. It’s fairly fool proof (as long as you follow the measurements!) and is a recipe that even little kids can help make.

Ingredients in Salt Dough

To make this recipe, you’ll need:

• table salt
• all-purpose flour
• water

TIP: That’s it! (I buy store brand, cheap flour for this since project to keep it very budget-friendly. )

How to Make Salt Dough Ornaments Step-by-Step

Here’s a look at how to make the dough for this salt dough. Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full information. 

1. Measure out the flour and water. (photo 1)
2. Add the water. (photo 2)
3. Stir with a wooden spoon. (photo 3)
4. Keep stirring until the dough is mostly together and is hard to stir any longer. (photo 4)
5. Knead a few times with hands to bring the dough together. (photo 5)
6. Place dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll out. (photo 6)

TIP: You can divide the dough in sections so multiple kids can have their own dough to work with.

How to Cut Out, Bake and Decorate Salt Dough Ornaments

Once you start rolling, here’s a look at what will follow if you want to make these into ornaments. (Skip the hole poking if you want to just make these as shapes for the kids to paint. )

1. Roll out, changing directions occasionally, until about 1/4-inch thick. (This may not get precise if you’re working with kids and that’s okay!) (photo 1) 
2. Stamp cookie cutters. (photo 2)
3. Remove the dough around the shapes, then either transfer the whole piece of parchment paper to a cookie sheet OR transfer just the shapes to a parchment-lined cookie sheet. (photo 3)
4. Poke holes so you have a place for a string to hang as ornaments. (photo 4)
5. Press in a hand to make a handprint, if desired. (photo 5)
6. Bake, let cool and decorate! (photo 6)

TIP: Re-roll any remaining dough after Step 3 here to make additional ornaments.

Salt Dough Handprint Ornament

Capturing a handprint in salt dough is a perfect grandparent gift, or a keepsake ornament to make for your own tree. I love pulling out our little collection year after year. Know that getting a good print may take a few tries if doing a baby’s hand!

TIP: Check the size of your round cookie cutter against your child’s hand to make sure that it’s big enough. You may need one that’s 4-5 inches in diameter.

Best Paint for Salt Dough Ornaments

If the kids are wearing smocks, the table is protected, and you are reasonably sure they won’t paint all over their hands and faces, I like using regular acrylic craft paint since it holds up best on crafts. With younger kids who may wind up wearing more of the paint, I’d recommend tempura washable paints.

TIP: We put our paint into the base of old egg cartons since we always have those on hand. You can also use paper plates.

How to Preserve Salt Dough Ornaments

To help preserve your finished dried ornaments, you can coat with a layer or two of Mod Podge or spray with a sealer. Either work well. I’d recommend coating or sealing both sides, so do one side and let it dry, and then do the second side. If using the sealer, do it in a well ventilated area without the kids too close by.

TIP: To store these ornaments from year to year, you’ll want to wrap in bubble wrap. Store in a container that won’t be banged around, dropped or exposed to excess moisture.

Why is my salt dough puffing up?

If you mistakenly use self-rising flour, they may puff. And sometimes it happens randomly. Keep the oven temperature low and if it happens consistently, you can try baking at an even lower temperature for a slightly longer amount of time.

Tips for Making the Best Salt Dough Ornaments

• If the dough is too wet and sticky, knead in a little more flour. If it’s too stiff, add a little more water. There is a big range in the way different flours absorb liquid, so there is a normal range of variation in liquid needs. It should be easy to work with—soft and not too stiff and not excessively sticky.
• Use paper lollipop sticks or a skewer to make your holes.
• Use a 4-5 inch round cookie cutter to make handprint ornaments.
• Tie on baker’s twine or thin ribbon to hang as ornaments.
• Try to get the dough to an even thickness before baking so the ornaments bake evenly.
• Bake for the time indicated and then longer if your ornaments still feel soft. They should be firm to the touch without much give.
• Let cool fully before painting.
• If you want to paint the background of a handprint ornament, do that before you paint the inside of the hand. Let dry before adding a second color. Some people like to paint the whole thing white or cream to give it a more finished look.
• Use acrylic craft paint for older kids who can be trusted with paint and tempura washable paints with younger toddlers.since it holds up best on crafts. With younger kids who may wind up wearing more of the paint, I’d recommend.
• To help preserve your finished dried ornaments, you can coat with a layer or two of Mod Podge or spray with a sealer.

I’d love to hear your feedback on this project and what your kids thought of it, so please comment below to share!

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes

Author Amy Palanjian

Cuisine American

Course Holiday

Calories 1kcal

Servings 2 dozen ornaments

• ▢ 4 cups flour
• ▢ 1 cup table salt
• ▢ 1. 5 cups water

• Mix the ingredients together in a large bowl using a wooden spoon. When it becomes too stiff to stir, use clean hands to bring the dough together.

• NOTE: If the dough is too wet and sticky, knead in a little more flour, about 1 tablespoon at a time. If it's too stiff, add a little more water, about 1 tablespoon at a time. There is a big range in the way different flours absorb liquid, so there is a normal range of variation here. It should be easy to work with—soft and not too stiff and not excessively sticky.

• Knead a few times until the dough is uniform and soft, about 3-5 minutes.

• Divide dough into 2 or 4 sections and roll out to about 1/4-½ inch thick between two sheets of parchment paper. This will help prevent sticking.

• Cut out with cookie cutters. Transfer shapes to a parchment-lined baking sheet.

• Repeat rolling and cutting out shapes to use up the dough.

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

• Do a 4-5-inch circle and press in a child's handprint if desired.

• Use a paper lollipop stick or a skewer to make a hole to hang as an ornament.

• If making ornaments, bake for 90 minutes to 2 hours; if baking handprints, bake for 2-3 hours. Continue baking both ornaments and handprints as needed until they are until just firm to the touch, checking every 20 minutes. (It's not a problem if yours take longer than the initial baking time—it varies based on thickness and size...which will likely vary if you are baking these with kids!) They do not need to be rock hard, but should not feel squishy. Handprints will likely take longer than smaller ornaments and may take closer to 4 hours.

• Remove from oven, let cool, and paint if desired with acrylic or washable tempera paint.

• Once paint is completely dry, seal with Mod Podge if desired.

• Mixing Bowl

• parchment paper

• Mini Cookie Cutters

• Divide the recipe in half to make a smaller portion of dough if desired.
• Use paper lollipop sticks or a skewer to make your holes.
• Use a 4-5 inch round cookie cutter to make handprint ornaments.
• Tie on baker's twine or thin ribbon to hang as ornaments.
• Try to get the dough to an even thickness before baking so the ornaments bake evenly.
• Bake for the time indicated and then longer if your ornaments still feel soft. They should be firm to the touch without much give but do not need to be rock hard. It is not a sign of a problem if yours take longer than mine did to bake—flours and ovens vary!
• Let cool fully before painting.
• If you want to paint the background of a handprint ornament, do that before you paint the inside of the hand. Let dry before adding a second color.
• Use regular acrylic paint for older kids who can be trusted with paint and washable tempera paint with younger toddlers.
• To help preserve your finished dried ornaments, you can coat with a layer or two of Mod Podge or spray with a sealer.

Calories: 1kcal, Fat: 1g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 1g, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 1g, Calcium: 31mg, Iron: 6mg

Tried this recipe?Rate in the comments and tag @yummytoddlerfood on IG!

Salt Dough Ornaments (+ How to Make Salt Dough)

Salt dough ornaments are the sweetest little homemade gift and such a fun Christmas tradition!

You can make them for the whole family or classroom with hardly any effort and there are plenty of fun personalization options. Kids will have a great time making these!

Click HERE to save this recipe for Salt Dough Ornaments to Pinterest!

Making Salt Dough Ornaments

When my daughter, Madeline, was in elementary school she received a homemade salt dough ornament from one of her friends.

I thought that was the cutest idea for kids to gift to one another and I loved that it was a fun friend gift that didn’t cost a lot of money.

Christmas crafts as gifts for school friends aren’t something I’d really considered before – surely buying stuff was easier? But after she came home with that adorable ornament, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

In years past, usually on a snowy afternoon when everyone is tired of playing in the snow, we whip up a batch of these cute Salt Dough Ornaments to hand out to friends. We keep it simple with solid colors, and classic shapes like Christmas trees and snowflakes, but red and white candy canes or yellow bells would be super cute and festive, too.

Salt Dough Ornaments are actually really easy to make and are the perfect activity for kids to do during the month of December. Especially on days that are too cold or snowy to play outside. Usually those days are abundant here in Colorado.

When Kevin and I got married, we decided on decorating two Christmas trees each year — one downstairs in the formal living that is all matchy-matchy and perfect.

It sits in front of the windows and looks so pretty with the tree’s white lights and ornaments in shades of blue, silver, and gold glowing through the windows at night.

Even though it is a decorator tree, there are a few special-to-me ornaments on it that just happen to fit the color scheme, and every year we try to add a couple new ones.

Upstairs in the hallway outside of the kids game room is a tree with all of their collector ornaments. That tree contains all of the cute handmade things the kids made in class in years past, and multi-color lights. It’s totally tacky in the best way possible.

This year, we made a couple extra of these salt dough ornaments to put on our memory-filled tree and I look forward to more in years to come. I don’t think making salt dough ornaments is an activity that kids will ever really grow out of.

Salt Dough Ingredients

This is the best salt dough recipe! If you’ve never learned how to make salt dough, don’t fret — it’s so easy to make your own homemade ornaments! Here’s what you will need to make a batch of this salt dough:

• All-purpose flour
• Salt
• Water
• Essential Oils for scenting (optional!)

In addition to these key ingredients to make the dough, you’ll also need some additional materials for shaping and decorating your homemade ornaments:

• mixing bowl
• mixing spoon
• rolling pin
• cookie cutters
• food coloring or acrylic craft paint (or keep them naturally colored)
• drinking straw (this helps cut the hole for threading ribbon or twine to string the ornament)
• parchment paper
• twine or ribbon

That’s it! Any other tools you use are up to your personal preference depending on how you’d like to customize your homemade salt dough ornaments.

For the complete ingredient list and detailed instructions, scroll to the bottom of this post for the FREE printable recipe card.

Click HERE to save this recipe for Salt Dough Ornaments to Pinterest!

How to Make Salt Dough Ornaments

Salt dough ornaments are super simple to make yourself at home! Here is an overview of the steps you’ll need to follow. For full details, make sure you scroll down to the free printable recipe card which you can keep for your records and use year after year.

1. To make this salt dough ornament recipe, you first need to whisk together the salt and flour.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the water and food coloring (or paint).
3. Make a well in the flour mixture and slowly pour in the colored water, mixing after you’ve added half of the liquid.
4. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes on top of parchment paper or baking mat until the dough is smooth and colored throughout.
5. Roll out the salt dough, then cut it out using your cookie cutters of choice.
6. Place the salt dough ornaments on a parchment paper lined baking tray, then cut a hole near the top with a drinking straw.
7. Then, bake at 200 degrees F for an hour, or until dry (varies on size and thickness of ornament).

Can I Make Salt Dough Ahead of Time?

Yes, you can make salt dough ahead of time, up to 5 day. Store it in the refrigerator in a completely air tight container or sealed ziplock bag. You can also use a vacuum sealer if you have one.

Storing it air tight is necessary because you don’t want to let the dough get dried out before you’ve had a chance to roll it!

Making salt dough ahead of time is a perfect way to eliminate some of the to-do the day you want to make the dough if you don’t have time to do it all in one day.

This works best when left naturally colored or colored with food coloring. I don’t recommend making it ahead of time if adding acrylic paint as the paint could dry out or degrade when stored for a length of time in the refrigerator.

How Do You Add Color To Salt Dough?

There are two different ways to add customized colors to salt dough – using food coloring or using acrylic paint.

Adding Food Coloring to Salt Dough

Food Coloring To add food coloring to the salt dough, you’ll only need a few drops unless you are looking to achieve very deep colors. You can mix different colors to create different hues beyond the typical food coloring color options.

I prefer the gel food coloring over traditional food coloring because you don’t need to use a whole bottle of coloring to achieve intensely colored dough.

What Paint Can You Use In Salt Dough?

Acrylic Craft Paint is best for using with salt dough in my experience. For solid colored salt dough, add 6 ounces of acrylic craft paint to the water and mix, then combine (slowly) with the flour and salt mixture. Stir until mixed, and then knead.

When adding paint to the salt dough, make sure you cover all surfaces with parchment paper or butcher paper so you don’t end up damaging your kitchen surfaces.

You can also use an old baking mat if you don’t care about it potentially getting stained. I prefer butcher paper or parchment paper because it makes the mess easy to clean up.

When you are kneading the salt dough, you will want want to wear gloves so that the paint doesn’t transfer to your hands. You can use surgical gloves or kitchen cleaning gloves (again, they might stain!).

This time around, as you can see in my photos, I decided to add white acrylic chalk paint to my salt dough to achieve a brighter white color and a matte finish. Then, I stamped the dough using a snowflake rubber stamp.

If the dough is too sticky, simply add extra flour and salt in a 4:1 ratio (such as 4 tablespoons flour and 1 tablespoon salt) until the dough is easily handled. It should be firm but not dry.

Can You Paint Salt Dough After Baking?

Yes, you can bake salt dough after your ornament has completely dried. I recommend acrylic paint for this as well. You can use small paint brushes to add details to your ornament, which works especially well if your ornament has three dimensional texture to it.

Can You Add Glitter to Salt Dough?

Yes! Adding glitter to salt dough gives a nice affect and can provide fun customization options. Keep reading to learn how to add glitter to salt dough ornaments – there are 3 different ways!

There are a few different ways that you can add glitter to your salt dough.

• One way to add glitter to your salt dough recipe is by adding flakes of glitter – 1 tablespoon at a time until you like the ratio of glitter to dough.

• Another way to incorporate glitter in your salt dough recipe is by adding acrylic paint that contains glitter or shimmer to your water, and then mixing that into the flour and salt when you prepare your dough. When I add paint to my dough, I add 6 ounces of paint to the recipe as written.

• Lastly, you can incorporate glitter in your salt dough ornaments by painting clear craft glue onto parts of your ornament that you want to have glitter and sprinkling loose glitter flakes on top of the glue. The ornament should be dry before this method is used.

How to Personalize Salt Dough Ornaments

You could make salt dough ornaments for your family, the classroom, coworkers – you name it!

And your limitations are only set by the cookie cutters you own. If you want to take it one step further, you can even personalize the ornaments for the recipient!

All the different combos you could make, all the Christmas cookie cutters I just happened to have in the pantry… the possibilities are endless.

Here are some of my favorite ways to personalize these salt dough ornaments:

• Take some mini ABC cookie cutters and stamp the middle with the recipient’s last name initial, monogram, or first name.
• Stamp the ornament with that year’s date, or a date of special significance.
• Lightly stamp a design within the cookie cutter using another, smaller cookie cutter.
• Hang two ornaments together on the same string, for example two shapes that have significance for the person you’re giving them to.

How to Stamp Salt Dough Ornaments with Texture

If you want to add interesting textures or patterns to the surface of your salt dough ornaments, you can do so by pressing different types of materials, tools, or other items that you might have in your home into the surface of the dough before baking.

Some great options for adding texture to your salt dough are:

• lace
• cookie stamps
• leaves
• rosemary sprigs
• pinecones
• pine needles
• rubber crafting stamps
• ribbon
• bottoms of crystal vases

Press the dough firmly with these items to leave an imprint in the dough but don’t press all the way through. You just want to create a texture on the surface that will remain after baking.

Objects or stamps with deeper more pronounced textures and grooves give the best finished appearance after baking and drying. Items that have very small, intricate details will not yield ideal results.

Scented Salt Dough Ornaments

Did you know that you can make scented salt dough ornaments, too? Adding essential oils to your salt dough will give it a great scent that you can enjoy in your home!

Have an artificial tree but love the smell of fresh, real Christmas trees? Scented Salt Dough ornaments are a great way to give an artificial tree a natural pine scent. Simply add 5-15, depending on your preference, drops of Fir Essential Oil. I like Siberian Fir best!

Another great scent to add to salt dough ornaments is Cinnamon Essential Oil! This will make your house smell like Christmas! A Christmas-y blend that I like is Holiday Joy, which has cinnamon along with orange and a few other essential oils.

The sky is the limit, really! You can add any essential oil scent you like, it doesn’t have to be a holiday themed smell.

For best results, you will want to air dry any salt dough ornaments that you have added essential oils to so that the scent remains longer.

When adding essential oils to your dough I definitely recommend wearing gloves when handling the dough as some people are sensitive to essential oils on their skin.

Have a Salt Dough Ornament Making Party

Pair this fun activity with a mug of your favorite hot cocoa and a round or two of Christmas Book Bingo by the fire.

Grown ups will love this Spiked Peppermint Mocha Hot Chocolate  and kiddos will like a mug of Candy Cane Hot Cocoa. If mulled ciders are more your style, try this Spiced Pomegranate Apple Cider.

Just make sure your favorite Christmas Tunes are playing in the background!

That sounds like just about the most perfect winter afternoon I could ask for. I hope it does to you too.

Looking for more fun Christmas activity ideas for kids to pair with making these salt dough ornaments? Check out my post on Tips to Prepare for a Fun Winter Break with Kids

Save this recipe for Salt Dough Ornaments to Pinterest!

How Many Ornaments Does this Salt Dough Recipe Make?

The number of ornaments you will get from this salt dough recipe varies based on the size of the ornament, however this recipe made approximately 18 three inch sized circles in my most recent batch.

After you cut out the shapes for your ornaments, combine any leftover scraps and knead until smooth and combined, then re-roll and cut out more shapes. Repeat until you don’t have any salt dough left.

What Type of Salt Should I Use?

To make this recipe for salt dough, you will use regular table salt! There is no need to buy anything special.

Tips for Making Salt Dough Ornaments

The hardest part of making these salt dough ornaments is simply making sure that your work surface remains dye-free.

I recommend covering your work surface with parchment paper or a plastic table cloth. Something inexpensive that you don’t care if it gets stained or that you can just throw away, the dollar store is great for this. Large sheets of butcher paper also works incredibly well!

Wearing gloves and aprons will help make sure that clothes and fingers aren’t dyed red and green when you’re making your salt dough ornaments.

The number of ornaments you will get from this salt dough recipe varies based on the size of the ornament, however this recipe made approximately 18 three inch sized circles in my most recent batch.

After you cut out the shapes for your ornaments, combine any leftover scraps and knead until smooth and combined, then re-roll and cut out more shapes. Repeat until you don’t have any salt dough left.

Why Does My Salt Dough Puff Up?

Are you wondering why your salt dough ornaments turned out puffy? Typically there are two things that cause salt dough to get puffy: either your oven is too hot or you used self-rising flour.

The first reason that your salt dough ornaments might be puffing is the temperature you bake at. You want your oven to be pretty low. This recipe calls for a 200 degrees F oven.

If you find that your salt dough ornaments are still turning out puffy, then try an even lower temperature. Temperatures lower than 200 degrees F work just fine for baking your salt dough and result in less puffiness. Your ornaments will just take longer to bake and dry out at the lower temperature.

The second reason that a salt dough ornament might puff after baking is because you used self-rising flour. In this recipe it is important to use all-purpose flour as it contains no leavening agents (baking soda, baking powder, etc).

Can You Air Dry Salt Dough Ornaments?

Yes you can make salt dough ornaments without baking them, however I don’t typically choose to make them that way.

No-bake salt dough ornaments take a lot longer to harden because you’re letting them dry out naturally. The benefit to making no-bake salt dough ornaments is that air drying the salt dough eliminates all chance of puffiness.

To air dry your salt dough ornaments, prepare the recipe as instructed, eliminating any cooking spray. Then, place them in a warm, dry place on a flat surface (such as a cookie sheet).

Let the salt dough air dry naturally for about 3-5 days, larger or thicker ornaments may take up to a week to air dry.

How Long Do Salt Dough Ornaments Last?

Properly prepared salt dough ornaments that have fully dried will last for decades! The most important tip for long lasting salt dough ornaments is to make sure that you let them dry out all the way – and that you don’t let them get damp. If they dampen, they can mold.

That means, when you pack your Christmas Ornaments up after the Holidays that you need to store them in a way that they won’t get wet.

I recommend air tight plastic ornament bins rather than cardboard boxes, which can get wet and damp due to humidity or leaks in your home. You can even add silica packets to your ornament storage to help mitigate any dampness that does occur.

Salt Dough Ornaments that have gotten wet or have already begun to mold, unfortunately should be thrown out for health reasons. Better safe than sorry!

More Homemade Gift Ideas:

If you love to make homemade gifts for friends, neighbors, teachers, or anyone else on your holiday gift list, you might like to try a couple of these ideas, too.

Instead of throwing out broken bits of crayon, learn How to Make Recycled Crayons and try melting down your scraps and reshaping them into something new. For Christmas-themed crayons, look for silicone molds that are Christmas Tree or snowflake shaped.

Featuring lemon, oil, sugar and salt, this All-Natural Moisturizing Kitchen Hand Scrub is a simple DIY gift to prepare – perfect for the holiday season. Teachers will love this pampering item. For something extra special, pair it with a mani/pedi gift card or some fun new nail polish colors.

This Rosemary Mint Sugar Scrub is another homemade gift any woman in your life would love. It’s easy to make and can be used all over your body.

Homemade bookmarks make fun crafts for kids and also super cute gifts for them to pass out to friends at school; check out these 8 Cute DIY Bookmark Ideas.

And there are 45 more Homemade gift ideas here!

What are your favorite homemade holiday gifts?

Love this recipe for Salt Dough Ornaments?
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Materials

• 1 cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1/4 cup Table Salt
• 1/3 cup Water, plus 1 tablespoon
• Food Coloring or Paint (6 ounces acrylic craft paint)
• 1 Drinking Straw
• Nonstick Baking Spray
• Parchment Paper
• 1 roll Colorful Ribbon (1/8 to 1/4-inch wide), Twine, or String

Tools

• Mixing Bowl
• Mixing Spoon
• Surgical Gloves, or kitchen gloves
• Rolling Pin

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 200°F. Place the rack in the center position.
2. Prepare a large baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper. Next, line the work area with butcher paper to prevent your counters or table from becoming stained.
3. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt until well whisked. In a glass measuring cup, stir in the water and food coloring or paint.
4. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and slowly pour in the colored water, starting with half the amount and adding more as needed to form a firm dough that is moist but not sticky. Stir well.
5. While wearing the surgical gloves, knead the dough with your hands for approximately 10 minutes (on top of the parchment paper), or until the dough has become smooth and the color is distributed throughout.
6. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a 1/4-inch thickness on the parchment paper. Use whatever shaped cookie cutters you’d like to cut out the dough. Additionally, you can stamp the dough with various items to create texture or with ABC stamps to personalize the ornaments with someone's initials, last name, or year.
7. Combine any scraps that are leftover and knead, then re-roll with the rolling pin and cut out additional ornaments. Repeat until all of the dough has been used.
8. After cutting the ornaments, transfer the cut shapes onto the parchment paper lined baking sheet. Use the straw to cut a small hole near the top (where you’d like to hang the ornament from). Discard the small circular piece of dough that you remove to create the hole.
9. Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake for 1 hour, or until dry. Flip the ornaments half way through baking so that the underneath side can dry out as well.
10. When done baking, remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack. After cooling, thread the ribbon or string through the holes and tie to hang.

Notes

Do not ingest this dough. It is not intended for eating.

WHAT PAINT CAN YOU USE IN SALT DOUGH?

Acrylic Craft Paint is best for using with salt dough in my experience. For solid colored salt dough, add 6 ounces of acrylic craft paint to the water and mix, then combine (slowly) with the flour and salt mixture. Stir until mixed, and then knead.

If the dough is too sticky, simply add extra flour and salt in a 4:1 ratio (such as 4 tablespoons flour and 1 tablespoon salt)

When adding paint to the salt dough, cover all surfaces with parchment paper or butcher paper so you don’t end up damaging your kitchen surfaces. Wear surgical gloves when kneading the dough so paint doesn’t transfer to your hands.

CAN I MAKE SALT DOUGH AHEAD OF TIME?

Yes, up to 5 days. Store it in the refrigerator in a completely air tight container or sealed ziplock bag. You don’t want to let the dough get dried out before you’ve had a chance to roll it! This works best when left naturally colored or colored with food coloring. I don't recommend making it ahead of time if adding acrylic paint.

HOW MANY ORNAMENTS DOES THIS SALT DOUGH RECIPE MAKE?

The number of ornaments you will get from this salt dough recipe varies based on the size of the ornament, however this recipe made approximately 18 three inch sized circles in my most recent batch.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

• Gel Food Coloring

• Adjustable Rolling Pin with Removable Rings

• Non-slip Silicone Pastry Mat

• Christmas Cookie Cutters Set

• Mini ABC and Number Cookie Cutters

• Baking Sheet

I originally shared this fun recipe for Salt Dough Ornaments on Food Fanatic, but I thought you’d like to see it here on Good Life Eats.

Crafts from salt dough for the New Year 2022: photos, master classes, ideas!

New Year is a wonderful time and the best time to enjoy communication with family and children. Kids love Christmas crafts and homemade Christmas toys. Messing with dough is also one of the favorite activities for children. By combining both, you can decorate the Christmas tree with wonderful unique toys.

In this article:

• Salt dough recipe.
• How to dry crafts?
• What and how to paint products?
• Ideas for decorating crafts.

Salt dough recipe

You will need:

• 1 part fine table salt;
• 1 part white table flour;
• 1/3 potato starch;
• mixing water.

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl and knead the mass, gradually adding water. The mass should be of a pleasant consistency - not stick to your hands, and not be too tight (do not break or crumble).

After the salt dough is ready, decide when you will dye the products. You can paint the mass immediately, or you can paint the toys after baking.

How to dry Christmas crafts?

A few words about drying. To make the dough firm, you can simply wait a few days, or bake it in the oven. It is necessary to heat the oven to the maximum temperature, then put the salted crafts laid out on a baking sheet. Then you need to turn off the oven, and do not open it until it has cooled completely. You can bake on a very low heat (like croutons), but then you have to make sure that they do not burn. Another little secret - so that the figures do not stick, cover the baking sheet with a baking sleeve.

Of course, not all salt dough crafts can be dried in the oven. For example, decorated with beads or beads, you need to dry naturally.

How to paint the finished product?

There are several ways to make items colorful. Dry cosmetic pigments and water-soluble food colorings, which are used to make handmade soap, are best suited for this. If they are not, then you can use Gouache, or watercolors.

After the salt dough is colored, it must be carefully rolled out with a rolling pin and cut out the desired figures with molds. Dough products of different colors look very interesting (as in the picture). It is a great pleasure for kids to engage in this kind of mixing.

Another way is to make white dough crafts and then decorate them - there are many ways. Kids will do it with gouache, older children can draw beautiful patterns with felt-tip pens or a gel pen.

Acrylic paints are an excellent decoration! If you make an ornament on crafts with silver paint, they will look like real New Year's cookies! The paints with brilliant pigment look very advantageous!

Decor Ideas

Besides coloring, there are many ways to decorate future toys. Just do it before you dry them. For example, cut different holes with a straw.

Or make prints and imprints with stamps or some figures.

Decorate with beads, beads or sequins!

Dough crafts decorated with cosmetic glitters look very festive! It is necessary to cover the dry finished product with PVA glue, and then cover it with glitters. You can buy them at any nail fashion store, they cost from 60 to 120 rubles.

And you can decorate products with cloves, cinnamon sticks, and other spices! So they not only decorate the Christmas tree, but also give a special New Year's flavor!

Oh, and don't forget to make thread holes to hang your crafts on the beautiful Christmas tree!

Salt dough Christmas decorations. #10 Dough stars with luminous core

My kids are very fond of watching Fixies. And after watching a series about Claudel Models, they came to the kitchen with a question:

— Mom, can we make clay? To do this, you need only one glass of flour, half a glass of salt and half a glass of water. That's what they said on the fixes.

I couldn't refuse such a creative work and the process was in full swing. It was before the New Year, so the theme of the toys is New Year's.

Christmas toys made of salt dough - children's master class:

1. First of all, the children kneaded the dough themselves. Mixing all the ingredients in a bowl. The proportions were taken exactly as the fixies said:

• 1 glass of flour
• 0.5 cups of salt
• 0.5 cups of water

2. Then they rolled out the dough into a cake.

3. While the children were rolling out the dough, I prepared a paper stencil for them in the shape of a Christmas tree. This stencil they very diligently circled and cut out with the help of stacks.

4. In the process of making Christmas decorations from salt dough, I remembered cookie cutters. The children really liked this idea, and they quickly made different figures from the dough: bells, Christmas trees, cones, stars, etc.

It is easy to work with molds and the result is always pleasing, so in this version this lesson is suitable even for children from 3-4 years old.

5. We also tried to make colored salt dough by adding watercolor paint to it. To do this, simply dripped a little water into the paint, stirred it with a brush and poured the colored water into the dough. This was also mentioned in the cartoon.

6. All figures were left to dry near the battery overnight.

7. And in the morning the children did not have time to wake up completely, they were already rushing to their New Year's toys made of dough to decorate them. Painted with simple watercolors. Also in my bins, I found some rhinestones - they are great decorated Christmas decorations.

In order for the paint to dry faster, the eldest son turned on the fan and sent a stream of air to the painted toys. Painted on both sides.

8. When the paint was dry, the children were happy to decorate the Christmas tree with their Christmas toys made of salt dough.

9. It turned out very nice. And the manufacturing process was pleasant and joyful. This year, our Christmas tree is beautiful in a special way, because almost all the toys on it are made by hand.

And I wish you pleasant creativity together with your children.

Subtleties in making Christmas tree decorations from salt dough:

1. It is better to take finely ground salt for dough so that there are no salty grains on the finished figures.

2. Sculpt with children Christmas decorations from salt dough, preferably on a large table, where there will be nothing superfluous. After the figurine, it is better to immediately put it on a large flat dish or a piece of thick cardboard, so that it is easier to transfer to a drying place. For example, on the window or next to the battery. If you dry in the oven, then the figures must be immediately folded onto the enemy, covered with foil.

3. New Year's toys made of dough can be solid or made of several parts. The parts stick together well if they are lightly moistened with a wet brush.

4. To make holes in toys, you can use pasta, pen caps, cocktail straws and any other materials at hand.

5. Salt dough can be colored with food coloring, gouache, watercolor, acrylic, glitters (shiny paints).

7. Dry salted Christmas decorations, you can:

- just at room temperature (but this may take 2-4 days).

- near the battery (1 night for flat figures)

- in the oven at 50 gr. (several hours)

Christmas decorations can be made not only from dough, but also, etc.

Salt dough Christmas decorations

For the New Year, you always want to please your loved ones with something unusual. And the teacher faces the task of what gifts to prepare with the children for their parents. Everyone knows that children with great pleasure present gifts made by themselves. I decided to turn to a long tradition, which in our time is being actively revived. In ancient times in Rus' it was customary to give figurines made of salt dough for the New Year. Such figurines were called “hospitable”, as it was believed that they bring satiety and well-being to the house. If there is bread and salt in the house, namely, dough was made from flour and salt, you will not stay hungry. The tradition was born in poor families, where there was nothing to pamper the children on New Year's holiday. The poor guessed to mold figures from dough - flour and water, and began to give them to each other. And so that mice do not gnaw toys, they began to add a lot of salt to the dough. This is how salt dough was born.
Salt dough is an excellent material for modeling: plastic, environmentally friendly, safe, does not stick to hands, and is easily washed off with water. A great alternative to plasticine, and salt dough figures can also be painted.
With my children in the preparatory group, I started creating Christmas decorations from salt dough, I suggest you try it too.
To prepare the dough we need:
- 2 cups wheat flour
- 1 cup extra salt
- 1 cup cold water
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Mix flour and salt, gradually add water and vegetable oil. Knead the dough for ten to fifteen minutes. Put the dough in a plastic bag, otherwise it will dry out and become covered with a crust. To make the dough more plastic, and our crafts do not crack along the side cuts, keep the dough in the refrigerator for about two hours before use. For our crafts, we do not use all the dough, but only a small part of it. Leftover dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week (when stored longer, the dough turns gray).
Working with dough:
Pinch off a ball of dough of the desired size, place on cardboard (I recommend using thick cardboard to avoid deformation of the product during drying). Roll out the dough with a rolling pin about 5 mm thick and cut out shapes using cookie cutters (stars, Christmas trees, hearts, etc. ) or templates made from cardboard. Put the template on the rolled out dough and cut out the figures in a stack. You can roll sausages from the dough and fold them, for example, into a snowflake. To connect the parts, use water, moisten the gluing points with a brush and connect them.

It is convenient to make a hole for the ribbon with a drinking straw, but other objects such as a match, a stick, a brush will also work.
How to dry:
Place your figures to dry directly on the cardboard near the radiator, in a warm place. They will be ready for further work in five days. It all depends on the thickness of the product: one millimeter takes one day. At the same time, the products retain their color, which is convenient for coloring. There is another way to dry crafts - in the oven, but in kindergarten conditions this is not possible and, moreover, after the oven, the product takes on the color of a baked pie.
Decoration:
You can make prints directly on the dough. Any small relief objects (buttons, braid) are suitable for prints. To get an imprint, press it on a figure cut out of dough. You can roll out the dough through a crocheted napkin - we will also get a beautiful embossed pattern, then cut out the figures with molds.

Salt dough is a popular and affordable material for children's creativity and handicrafts. Just like plasticine from salt dough you can sculpt products of any level of complexity, therefore, children of any age can make crafts from salt dough. The recipe for making salt dough for modeling is very simple, the ingredients for him there are in every home.

Salt dough recipe. How to make salt dough

You will need:

Flour - 2 cups
- Salt - 1 cup
- Water - 250 gr.

Wheat flour is needed, the most common, without leavening agents, dyes and other additives. Salt - "Extra". Water - ordinary cold.

How to make salt dough: mix flour and salt, add water, knead the dough. The degree of readiness of salt dough can be determined only with hands. If the dough crumbles, add water. If, on the contrary, stretches too well and sticks to hands, which means there is a lot of water, and you need sprinkle some flour. Roll up a ball, make a few recesses. If the dough does not blur and holds its shape, then it ready. In the process of kneading, it is recommended to add vegetable oil. Now the dough will not stick to your hands, dry quickly and crust over while working. However, it should be remembered that best the enemy of the good! If there is a lot of oil, the dough will get dirty, and final drying can take a very long time. For our recipe a couple of tablespoons is enough.

Well, the dough is ready, now you can go directly to salt dough molding process.

New Year crafts from salt dough. Christmas salt dough toys

In this article we will tell you how to make Christmas crafts and Christmas decorations from salt dough. We have tried to find such salt dough crafts, which, on the one hand, are easy to make, On the other hand, the final result is beautiful.

Salt dough. Salt dough crafts

For making Christmas decorations from salt dough, you will need shaped cookie cutters. With their help, even a child can cut out shapes from the rolled out dough.

The resulting salt dough figures can be left as is, but even better to decorate them. For example, like this.

You can make many holes in the dough with a cocktail tube and then you get openwork figures.

Or decorate salt dough crafts with beads. Just keep in mind that if you use plastic beads, etc., then dry the finished you will not be able to bake salt dough products, otherwise the beads may melt.

Instead of beads for decorating Christmas salt dough crafts you can use different cereals, shells, buttons and even broken dishes.

Salt dough ornaments can be made festive with using beautiful ribbons and threads.

Note: if you do not have a suitable cutter, you can cut cardboard stencil and cut salt dough for crafts on it.

Modeling from salt dough. Salt dough photo

Ready-made, already dried salt dough products can be decorated with glitter, putting them on a layer of glue.

Salt dough crafts. Salt dough master class

Salt dough decorations look beautiful, painted using colored permanent markers.

Salt dough products. Salt dough molding

You can decorate New Year's crafts from salt dough using decoupage technique, Pasted with beautiful pictures or decals. For decoupage you can use pictures cut from New Year's napkins. For New Year's decoupage is suitable for ordinary PVA glue, diluted with water in a ratio of 1:1. Cut out pictures or a pattern from New Year's napkins, peel off the top layer and stick it on the finished salted craft test. Apply another layer of glue on top.

Salt dough figurines. Salt dough crafts

Here are some more examples of decorating figures from salt dough.

Salt dough Christmas decorations. Salt dough molding

A simple and original way to decorate salt dough - is to make prints on them. Prints can be made in all sorts of ways. items with an interesting texture that you can find at home at home.

Salt dough craft "Fish" in the photo below was made with using various textured objects that the author found crafts at home. A detailed master class on the manufacture of this original salt dough crafts see link

Suitable for making DIY Christmas decorations from salt dough also natural material: twigs, shells, leaves with thick veins.

When you make Christmas crafts from salt dough with your children, you can use purchased stamps for children's creativity. Ink will do both black and colored.

DIY Christmas decorations stars, a house and a cockerel in the photo below also made from salt dough using patterned dies. By the way, you can make stamps for children's creativity yourself. About, how to make stamps with your own hands, read on our website in a special article.

An interesting way to make Christmas decorations from salt dough is Ladybirds website in my garden. With the help of textile or paper lace, openwork prints on salt dough, from which figures are then cut out using curly molds or a simple glass.

Salt dough ornaments with imprints look touching children's hands or feet. On the reverse side of the salted test, indicate the date the imprint was made.

Fingerprints and handprints on salt dough can be made here such memorable Christmas decorations with their own hands: a Christmas tree and Santa Claus.

Salt dough crafts. Salt dough figurines

Finishing our review article on the topic "New Year's crafts from salt dough", here are some more interesting New Year's crafts that can be made from both salt dough and plasticine.

1. Christmas mosaic of beads and glass beads

To make this original Christmas decoration, you will need:

Plasticine or salt dough
- plastic lids
- beads, beads
- gold paint (optional)

Paint the caps with gold paint, then fill them with plasticine or salt dough, lay out a mosaic of beads and glass beads on top. Making such New Year's crafts is possible even for kids.

2. DIY craft for the New Year "New Year's candles"

To make this Christmas craft you will need:

Salt dough or plasticine
- cardboard base from a toilet paper roll
- corrugated paper in red, yellow and orange

Make rings from plasticine or salt dough in different colors, after then put them on a cardboard roll. Make from corrugated paper flame, insert it inside the candle.

3. Christmas tree craft for children

From milk, kefir or juice cartons and plasticine (salt dough) you can make a pretty Christmas tree. Master class for making this craft from salt dough, see the photo below.

See also articles on our website:

4. Christmas compositions from plasticine

Online Country Masters posted an interesting master class on creating New Year's compositions from plasticine by cutting. Look at New Year's Christmas tree below. It is assembled from individual branches cut from one plasticine blank, and then decorated with Christmas decorations from plasticine, made in the same technique.

Images of burning candles will help decorate the New Year's composition. Country Masters will teach you how to make original twisted plasticine candles. This composition is complemented by a chrysanthemum flower and a small plasticine snag.

We recommend everyone who is interested in plasticine crafts for the New Year also Roni's book Oren "Secrets of Plasticine. New Year".

5. Salt dough candlesticks

6. Christmas salt dough mosaic 9019four