I vaguely remember using salt dough as a child but largely forgot all about it until I used it to make some christmas tree decorations with Amelie in December, and now I am completely obsessed with the stuff! It’s easy, toddler safe, cheap to make and has a bajillion uses – what’s not to love?
The recipe is unbelievably simple:
One part salt
One part water
Two parts flour
Dash of oil
And that’s it! Just hand the mixing bowl to your kiddie, let them stir to their hearts content while you flour a flat surface and grab a rolling pin and some cookie cutters, then go nuts! The only downside to salt dough is the drying time. You can let it dry naturally in a warm place overnight (although it could take longer, depending on the thickness of the dough) or you can put it in the oven on a very low setting for a few hours. I’ve heard you can put it in the microwave for around 3 minutes, but as I don’t have a microwave I can’t vouch for that method (If anyone tries it, let me know how it works out!) You don’t want to put it in the oven on too high a setting or the shapes will puff up, slow and steady is the trick here. So, what to do with this magical stuff? Well, your imagination is the only limit really, but some of my favorite uses of Salt Dough have been:
Color Recognition Stars
No further description needed really! I’m going to make some different shapes this week for shape recognition too.
Tree Ornaments
I pre-cut the shapes in the evening, let them dry, then the next day we decorated them together. I did some and Amelie did some. I used acrylics, Amelie used tempera paints, pencil crayons, glitter and felts. I varnished them, threaded them with ribbon and voila, the tree looks awesome!
Alphabet Tiles
Amelie is very interested in learning the names of letters so I decided to make her some alphabet tiles to practice on. I cut small circles and painted the letters of the alphabet on them with acrylic paints. I’m actually surprised how well these have held up considering how much they get tossed around. So far they’re all still intact, bravo salt dough, bravo.
Heart Garland
I love how this turned out. I used a heart cookie cutter, a drinking straw to make the lace-like detail around the edges and letter stamps to stamp the letters spelling Love, Peace, Family, Dreams and Happiness into the dough. Once dry I pained them white, then filled in the letters with a very fine brush and red acrylic, then threaded them with ribbon and hung them up. They really look lovely and were so simple to make. I guess you could use any shape to make a garland and I’ve seen this stamping technique used to make gift tags, which is a lovely idea.
I’ve managed to keep unused dough in a sealed container with a splash of water in the fridge for a couple of days, it just needed a little flour, but worked fine. I really like making and using this stuff, it’s so versatile and takes no time to make. You can cut out shapes/squish it/play with it with your child or knock up a batch of shapes while they nap and decorate them together once they are dry. I even have a few spare dried shapes available on Amelie’s art shelf for decorating on rainy days.
HAVE FUN!
Sippy Cups and Skyscrapers 