Salt Dough Ornaments Recipe: A Fun Holiday Project for Kids of All Ages

Salt dough ornaments are a fun family project for kids – especially those who’ve never grown up. Create beautiful and sustainable works of art with salt dough. With our quick and easy salt dough recipe, you can shape, bake, and decorate a variety of forms and figures. Let’s get to work!

Salt Dough Ornaments Recipe: Three Simple Ingredients

Flour, salt, and water are combined at a 2:1:1 ratio. This makes it easy to make larger or smaller batches as desired. You can start by using

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 cup of salt
• 1 cup of water

Hint: To make the dough even smoother and easier to knead, you can substitute half a cup of corn starch for the same amount of flour and add 2 tablespoons of oil.

How to Make Salt Dough

1. Mix the flour and salt in a bowl, then add the water.
2. Stir the ingredients with a spoon until a smooth dough has formed.
3. Knead the dough with your fingers. If the dough sticks to your hands, add a dash of flour. After kneading, the salt dough is ready to be molded into shape.

Hint: While the salt dough can be colored with spices or other natural dyes before being shaped, the colors will lose some of their brilliance when baked. For more vibrant colors, paint the dough after baking instead.

Shaping Your Dough

You can get creative shaping the salted dough. The salt dough recipe is particularly suitable for:

• Holiday ornaments and figurines
• Play figures for your child’s play-kitchen or the grocery store
• Handprint and footprint plates
• Table decoration

1. Holiday Salt Dough Ornaments: Lightly cover your table or counter with flour, then use a rolling pin to flatten the dough until it is about a quarter of an inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out the individual ornaments, then place them onto a baking tray with the lightly-floured side down. Before baking, skewer a hole through the ornament so you can thread and hang it later. Make sure the hole is large enough and far enough from the edge of the salt dough ornament. Once the dough is dry, it is difficult to make changes without damaging your work.
2. Forms and Figurines: Silicone baking pans with different motifs can be used to shape great table decorations or play figures for children. Carefully press the dough into your mold to fill it. Cut or gently tear away any excess.
3. Handprints and Footprints: Lightly cover your table or counter with flour. Roll out a correspondingly large piece of salt dough until it is about ⅜ in. thick. Have your child press his or her hand/foot into the dough until the impression is clearly visible. Depending on their weight/strength, you may need to help your child press firmly enough. If you want to hang the impression later, drill a hole in it as well.

Drying or Baking Your Salt Dough Ornaments Under Low Heat

Salt dough quickly cracks or blisters under high heat. Instead of baking your dough, you can allow it to air-dry for several days near the radiator or in a similarly warm place. This also saves energy!

If you are in a hurry, you can bake half-inch thick salt dough ornaments as follows:

1. Begin by baking your dough for 30 minutes at 60°C (140°F).
2. Increase the heat to 100°C (212°F) for 30 minutes.
3. Increase the heat to 120°C (250°F) for 2 hours or until the center of the underside has hardened.

Painting and Decorating Your Salt Dough Ornaments and Figures

After your salt dough has dried and solidified, you can paint and decorate your ornaments. Various paints are suitable for this. For the figures pictured, we used watercolors with strong emphasis on the pigment and as little water as possible. To get a really rich color, you will need to do at least two coats. When you have finished painting your salt dough ornaments, they should again be allowed to dry in a warm place.

Since the salt dough absorbs water from the air over time, it must be coated with a clear lacquer (either water-based or vegetable oil-based) to make it more durable. Make sure any paint or lacquer you use is suitable to be used for children’s toys.

If this salt dough ornaments recipe was a hit with your kids, give our next family friendly recipe a try: How to Make Homemade Playdough: An Easy DIY Recipe.

Read More:

• 10 Everyday Green Living Ideas: Sustainability on a Shoestring Budget
• Recipe: Make Your Own Granola Bars, Quickly and Sustainably
• Homemade Applesauce: Easy Sugar-Free Recipe

This article was translated from German into English. You can view the original here: Salzteig-Rezept: In wenigen Schritten herstellen und backen.

Tags: DIY holidays kids recipes Xmas