Bubbles has been very interested in all the projects I’ve been working on for the Christmas in July series and she has wanted to lend a hand in most of them. Not all of them lend themselves well to her age group, but today I have a fun and easy craft that you and your kiddos can do together. You may want to do the mixing part yourself, but once the salt dough ornaments are done, the kids can have fun painting and personalizing them.
This recipe is great because you can use it to make pretty much anything. We used cookie cutters to cut out holiday shapes; some of them we painted, some we’ll leave “natural”. You can also press the kids’ hands or fingerprints in them to make milestone ornaments (which make great, inexpensive gifts for the grandparents, too).
Salt Dough Ornaments
Supplies Needed:
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water
Tutorial:
Add flour and water to a bowl; pour in the water and mix together until a dough consistency is reached. I dumped it all in the bowl of my stand mixer and it made it much easier. Then I gave it a quick knead and rolled the dough out like I was going to make cookies. You’ll want the thickness to be between 1/4″ and 1/2″ thick.
We used a mix of different size and shape cookie cutters. As we cut them out, we laid them on a cookie sheet. Just before baking them I used a chop stick to create a small hole in each ornament so that later I could thread a ribbon for hanging. The smaller ornaments will need to bake for 2 hours at 250 degrees. The larger ornaments take a bit longer to set all the way through, so you may want to put them on their own cookie sheet, as they’ll bake for more like 2.5-3 hours.
This is a great craft to let even the young kiddos help with. Using the plastic cookie cutters with the rubber grips, Bubbles was able to cut out her own ornaments. After they baked, I gave her a paintbrush and some paint and let her paint some of her own along side me. She watched what I was doing fairly intently and then carefully spread paint around on her own.
Click the image below for all 31 Days of Christmas Crafts, Recipes, DIY & More
What salt dough ornaments do you plan to make?
About Liza
Liza is a mom (5-year-old daughter, 20-year-old stepson, and 24-year-old stepdaughter) and wife living in Louisville. She loves spending time with her family, visiting the local zoo and parks, as well as planning travel adventures. Cooking and baking, DIY projects and crafts, and coffee - lots and lots of coffee - round out some of her other hobbies.
[…] DIY Hanging Christmas Card Holder Bottle Cap Snowman Ornament Craft DIY Frosted Elf Donuts & Matching Elf Gift Box DIY Christmas Gift: “We Whisk You A Merry KISSmas” plus a free printable Free “Build Your Own Snowman” Printable Mini Clay Pot Snowmen Craft Christmas Candy Munch Mix Recipe DIY Santa Belly Ornament Gourmet Christmas Marshmallows Recipe Printable December Bucket List 125+ Stocking Stuffer Ideas for All Ages DIY Wedding Invitation “Our 1st Christmas” Ornament Easy Salt Dough Ornaments […]
Liza,
I know this was written for Christmas but these are just what I was looking for to give as Valentine’s presents – only heart shaped. I’m also thinking it will be cute to give “baseball” ornaments to the guys on my husband’s team.
Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
Marie
I love those ideas, Marie! They’d be perfect for that, yes
And now you have me thinking of how I could them in other ways…!
These look like a great project for my two year old! She loves play dough, so I imagine she’ll love making these for Christmas
I hope you enjoy making them if you get the chance, Olivia! My daughter has already requested that we do more of them again this year.
I love making salt dough ornaments! Yours look so cute!
I’ve always wanted to make these, but have never gotten around to it. What is the best type of paint to use? I’m thinking acrylic, but not 100% sure. If embellishing with other items, is plain white (e.g. Elmer’s) glue the best to use? Thanks
Hi Mary! I just used the little bottles of acrylic paint, yes
I would think regular white glue would be fine, but I know Elmer’s also makes a glue that’s good on different project types (like connecting wood to tile, plastic to wood, etc.) that might also be good.
[…] Salt Dough Ornaments from Views from The […]
[…] Salt Dough Ornaments | Source: Views from the […]