How to make salt dough
Salt dough is lovely to work with – soft and squidgy and it can be baked so it is perfect for making hanging decorations too. Here's a super quick and easy recipe to make your own salt dough.
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You will need:
- half a cup of salt
- one cup of plain flour
- half a cup of water
- cookie cutters
- ribbon for hanging
- paint to decorate
You can buy cookie cutters in a whole host of different shapes, we like this big pack of assorted shapes - there are 101 - including everything from letters to animals. See more details here at Amazon.
How to make salt dough and salt dough decorations
- Put one cup of flour and half a cup of salt into a bowl, then pour on half a cup of water.
- Stir the mixture until it forms a nice dough.
- To make decorations, roll out the dough and cut shapes using cookie cutters.
- Make a small hole in the top of your shapes for hanging, using the end of a paintbrush or a pencil.
- Add details by pressing in buttons, Lego, drinking straw ends ... whatever you like.
- Pop your salt dough shapes in the oven on a low heat for about 2-3 hours OR you can try zapping them in the microwave for about 2 minutes.
- Once they are dry you can paint them, add some biodegradable glitter if you like and varnish if you want a shiny protective surface. Then finally add a ribbon to hang.
Salt dough tips
- Try adding food colouring to make different colours of dough. Why not make a colourful salt dough rainbow to hang in your window?
- If you don't have cookie cutters, create a stencil by drawing a shape on a piece of card, then cutting the shape out. You can then place the shape on the rolled-out dough and cut around it.
- Make cute salt dough handprints or footprints by rolling the dough out and pressing a hand or foot into it before baking. This makes a gorgeous memento, or a perfect present for grandparents.
- Try pressing different objects into the dough to see what patterns they make, such as a fork, a leaf or a comb.
- The finished decorations are great for hanging on a branch, hanging on the Christmas tree, to use as gift tags on presents or just to hang in the windows as decoration.
- You can also simply make the salt dough and play with it - making little models and enjoying squidging and squishing it between your fingers.
Find more modelling ideas here
Want more crafting inspo? Check out these ideas or swap tips with other parents in our forum.
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This article contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small amount of money if a reader clicks through and makes a purchase. All our articles and reviews are written independently by the Netmums editorial team.
