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Salt Dough Recipe – Bead Necklaces

July 27, 2011

Welcome back to Kids Get Crafty and today’s Salt Dough Recipe, with which we had a go at making some Salt Dough Bead Necklaces! We absolutely adored every single stage of this craft and where so chuffed when it was all finished! I do hope you enjoy it too! The best thing about it is, is that it is perfect for these long summer holidays, as there are several stages to the craft that draw it out over several days! These also make great Mother’s Day Crafts!

If you want to avoid a brown goo at the end, I often recommend that you use “two colours” only with over enthusiastic toddlers and preschoolers. So today we focussed on Yellow and Blue – you can then add a little bit of basic colour theory and explore Green!

Salt Dough Beads for Kids. We love working with salt dough, it is inexpensive and versatile. Here we show you how to make Salt to Beads with preschoolers. Great to wear, great as gifts and also counting activities #saltdough #reschool #diybeads

 

 

 

The Book

There is simply one perfect book for this:

Little Blue and Little Yellow Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni. I love Leo Lionni and all his little mice books and this is just another wonderful story from him! I confess to having mislaid our copy (tsk tsk), but the basic story goes: Little Blue and Little Yellow are best of friends. One day they give each other such a big hug that they merge and become Green.. oh no! Especially since both their parents now don’t recognise them and send them away. So off they go to figure out how to separate again.. will they do it? A lovely story about friendship with some cheeky colour theory thrown in.

The Craft  & Salt Dough Recipe

Well.. as you may have guessed by now we LOVE salt dough, even more than playdough – it is quicker and easier to make AND you can let it harden and keep your creations for (almost) ever… we decided to go back to our basic salt dough recipe and make our own beads.. When we made our Dinosaurs I discovered that you can add paint “really well” to salt dough and thus turning it into fabulous play dough substance (better than if you use food colouring). So today we did two batches: one coloured set (Yellow and Blue) and one plain set for painting later.

Salt Dough Recipe:

Salt Dough Beads for Kids. We love working with salt dough, it is inexpensive and versatile. Here we show you how to make Salt to Beads with preschoolers. Great to wear, great as gifts and also counting activities #saltdough #reschool #diybeads

  • 2 cups of all purpose flour
  • 1 cup of salt
  • UPTO one cup of water
  • Paint of choice – I have noticed that different brands of poster paints dry differently well… so you have to experiment a little over time.. but to be honest any paint works, but you may have to add more according to brand and only trial will let you know! OR of course just use FOOD COLOURING, which works really well too.
  • Chopstick for making holes
  • Paint for painting plain beads (we had some fabulous metallic colours.. but I think you could do this with felt tips too)
  • Elastic/ bakers twine/ string

How to make Salt Dough Beads

There are many stages to this craft that are pleasing to children:

Salt Dough Beads for Kids. We love working with salt dough, it is inexpensive and versatile. Here we show you how to make Salt to Beads with preschoolers. Great to wear, great as gifts and also counting activities #saltdough #reschool #diybeads

1- The Mixing of the salt dough recipe and colour! I let the kids play with the flour and salt, before adding the water and paint myself (it is rather sticky at first). Pour in the water bit by bit. You don’t want the salt dough to be too wet. I kept ours quite dry – and added the last bit of water with the paint.

Salt Dough Beads for Kids. We love working with salt dough, it is inexpensive and versatile. Here we show you how to make Salt to Beads with preschoolers. Great to wear, great as gifts and also counting activities #saltdough #reschool #diybeads Salt Dough Beads for Kids. We love working with salt dough, it is inexpensive and versatile. Here we show you how to make Salt to Beads with preschoolers. Great to wear, great as gifts and also counting activities #saltdough #reschool #diybeads

2. Shaping Beads! Red Ted loved making the beads – well he loved making about 4 and then wanted to make dinosaurs again.. Pip Squeak managed about 2… I made the rest. I don’t think it is a problem – afterall they got to have a  go AND do their own thing.. and they loved the next stages too… Basically – form a ball and then use the chopstick to make a hole. This means the bead will end up more oval – as the chopstick squashes the bead a little. The first picture shows Red Ted mixing blue and yellow to get Green! Daddy didn’t think it would work, but it did!

Salt Dough Beads for Kids. We love working with salt dough, it is inexpensive and versatile. Here we show you how to make Salt to Beads with preschoolers. Great to wear, great as gifts and also counting activities #saltdough #reschool #diybeads

4. Drying/ baking your beads. Now salt dough has a tendency to “spread” a bit like cookies do in the oven 0n especially if it is a little on the wet side. So whilst drying them you will have to repoke them with your chopstick to make sure the holes don’t close up. In theory you can air dry salt dough, but it takes a good week or two, so we place them in the oven at around 70-100C. After 5 min I turned them and open the holes again. and repeated this another 2-3 times. It isn’t strictly necessary, but better! Even when dried – the beads are a little soft – i.e. I think it takes a little longer for them to fully dry (e.g. maybe a week). But it is ok – only 2 of ours broke (we made 35-40??). The rest are fine!

Salt Dough Beads for Kids. We love working with salt dough, it is inexpensive and versatile. Here we show you how to make Salt to Beads with preschoolers. Great to wear, great as gifts and also counting activities #saltdough #reschool #diybeads Salt Dough Beads for Kids. We love working with salt dough, it is inexpensive and versatile. Here we show you how to make Salt to Beads with preschoolers. Great to wear, great as gifts and also counting activities #saltdough #reschool #diybeads

3. Paint your plain beads. We made two types – as I wanted to see what they would look like. I love the natural look that the coloured salt dough has, whilst the also loving the snazziness of the metallic colours. Both fab for different reasons! Red Ted loved painting the beads, as he saw me doing some “adult beads” a few days earlier (see this week’s special how to!). He loved “using the skewer” to “hold” the beads with. It made it rather awkward for him, but fun! I love how he painted the beads all himself and I love the unevenness of the paint!

Salt Dough Beads for Kids. We love working with salt dough, it is inexpensive and versatile. Here we show you how to make Salt to Beads with preschoolers. Great to wear, great as gifts and also counting activities #saltdough #reschool #diybeads Salt Dough Beads for Kids. We love working with salt dough, it is inexpensive and versatile. Here we show you how to make Salt to Beads with preschoolers. Great to wear, great as gifts and also counting activities #saltdough #reschool #diybeads

4. Do your threading! I had some elastic and bakers twine. The elastic got a bit stretchy as the beads are a little heavier. Using the twine was better, but I added some sello tape for easier threading to the end – i.e. it became a little like a shoelace end. Red Ted beaded all of his and Pip Squeak managed two beads! Fabulous!

Finished:

Salt Dough Beads for Kids. We love working with salt dough, it is inexpensive and versatile. Here we show you how to make Salt to Beads with preschoolers. Great to wear, great as gifts and also counting activities #saltdough #reschool #diybeads

Snazzy Painted or

Salt Dough Beads for Kids. We love working with salt dough, it is inexpensive and versatile. Here we show you how to make Salt to Beads with preschoolers. Great to wear, great as gifts and also counting activities #saltdough #reschool #diybeads

Whimsical Earthiness!

More wonderful Salt Dough Crafts for Kids here:

 

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Filed Under: Kids Craft, salt dough 45 Comments

Comments

  1. Rashmie @MommyLabs says

    July 27, 2011 at 6:41 am

    I love this activity and the story sounds realllllllly cute! What a great way to introduce colour theory through a friendship tale! I think it’s utterly creative!

    The salt dough beads turned out lovely -both with natural colours in the dough as well as the painted dough. We love making salt dough, too. You know what – just yesterday I was thinking of making beads with clay. But, making them with salt dough is a great idea – for me as well as the kiddo!

    Reply
  2. Red Ted Art says

    July 27, 2011 at 6:53 am

    Oooh thank you Rashmie – yes, the book is very cute (though a little abstract, but Red Ted didn’t seem to mind that we were talking about blobs of colour) and we love love love our beads! 🙂 Have fun!

    Reply
  3. Cheryl Golangco says

    July 27, 2011 at 6:57 am

    These are lovely! This will also be perfect for occasions such as mother’s day or valentine’s day! Thanks for sharing! 🙂

    Reply
  4. Cathy @ nurturestore says

    July 27, 2011 at 7:56 am

    Snap! We made beads just like these last week 🙂 (ours got extra glitter added – of course!)

    Reply
  5. Red Ted Art says

    July 27, 2011 at 8:15 am

    Cheryl – ooh yes, they would be lovely for mother’s day and v-day 🙂

    Cathy – great minds…! 😉

    Reply
  6. maria says

    July 27, 2011 at 8:50 am

    They look lovely!

    Reply
  7. Isil says

    July 27, 2011 at 12:40 pm

    They look lovely and I am amazed at Pip Squeak 🙂 Like mother,like daughter 🙂

    Reply
  8. Roopa @putti prapancha says

    July 27, 2011 at 1:27 pm

    Love the dough beads, both look lovely!! And the book is a favorite with Putti too, isnt it so cute:)

    Reply
  9. Heather @ Montessori Buddy says

    July 27, 2011 at 1:40 pm

    I love your salt dough beads! I have to make those with my kids.

    Thanks for hosting the linky party. I’ll be adding my blogroll this week with a link to your blog, but I wanted to link up now. I hope that’s okay. : )

    Reply
  10. Red Ted Art says

    July 27, 2011 at 2:24 pm

    Absolutely! and thank you for stopping by to link up and adding me to your blogroll! Much appreciated!

    Reply
  11. Frank Zweegers says

    July 27, 2011 at 2:27 pm

    Looks really lovely!

    Reply
  12. Bernadette - Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas says

    July 27, 2011 at 5:02 pm

    we have yet to try our hand at Salt Dough. This is lovely & I know my youngest would ADORE making a necklace out of these. She LOVES jewelry. I will have to fit this in soon! Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply
  13. Kate says

    July 27, 2011 at 9:12 pm

    Wow! I can’t wait to try this! I have never heard of this book, but it looks perfect for learning about colors. I love all (every step) of your craft! It is so involved and fun!

    Reply
  14. Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

    July 27, 2011 at 9:37 pm

    Ah you sneaky girl! you made them before I could! beautiful and much nicer than what we would manage that’s for sure. Very impressed

    Reply
  15. Esther says

    July 28, 2011 at 12:47 am

    Wow lovely book! looks interesting! we have to try the beads. All fancy, beady things are a hit with CJ.

    Reply
  16. Red Ted Art says

    July 28, 2011 at 7:49 am

    Anna – sounds like salt dough beads are de rigour! And thank you for saying their are nice 😉

    Thank you Kate & Esther – the book is super cute and hope you have fun beading!

    Reply
  17. Tatjana says

    July 28, 2011 at 10:34 am

    Oh, salt dough! I love salt dough crafts! And I love Das kleine Blau und das kleine Gelb even more – my very favourite book as a little girl, I still have it somewhere :-))

    Reply
  18. Marianne says

    July 28, 2011 at 4:07 pm

    I’ve seen some really wonderful pieces with salt dough. Your beads came out soo good! What a perfect project for kids, too…non toxic and fun!

    Have a great day,
    Marianne

    Reply
  19. Angel Baby Shoes says

    July 28, 2011 at 9:02 pm

    What a great idea! I’ve never seen anything like it. This is my first time on your site and I’ve bookmarked it for future arts and craft inspiration! Excellent.

    Reply
  20. Rashi says

    July 28, 2011 at 10:31 pm

    Your beads turned out so cute, I never tried it yet salt dough but want to try it soon. Thanks for sharing this cute activity for kids.

    Reply
  21. Tracy says

    July 28, 2011 at 11:54 pm

    I love this! Thanks so much for sharing through Kara’s Look What I Made Linky Party. 🙂
    I’d love to invite you to share your projects at my weekly linky party….that I host every Friday. I think my viewers will LOVE your projects too. Thanks for the consideration.

    I’ll add your’s to my LINKY PARTY list…..:)

    Tracy ~ Craft Junkie Too
    T.G.I.F Linky Party

    Reply
  22. Red Ted Art says

    July 29, 2011 at 6:53 am

    Angel – lovely to meet you and am so pleased!
    Tracy ) will come and stop by! Thanks for the invite!

    Reply
  23. Chris at Thinly Spread says

    July 29, 2011 at 4:22 pm

    Salt dough is perfect isn’t it? And, these look gorgeous! I’ll get DD and BB at it as soon as possible!

    Reply
  24. Charlene@Adventures In Mommy Land says

    July 30, 2011 at 2:58 pm

    I love this….so awesome! I bet even my boys would love doing this.

    Nathan is sharing his favorite crafts of all time..come see his pics!

    Reply
  25. JDaniel4's Mom says

    July 31, 2011 at 10:09 am

    This is such a great visual reminder for children of the lesson from the story.

    This counts as an entry in the Summer Reading Challenge. Thank you for linking to Read.Explore.Learn.

    Reply
  26. mummiafelice says

    August 4, 2011 at 8:17 am

    Oooooooh I love these! I’ve used slat dough many time but never to make beads! FAB!

    Reply
  27. Robin says

    August 4, 2011 at 1:36 pm

    How much fun are these! I LOVE them.

    Reply
  28. Aimee says

    August 4, 2011 at 5:52 pm

    This is awesome and well worth the wait! Thank you for linking this post up to The Sunday Showcase!

    Reply
  29. Ajar says

    April 2, 2013 at 2:09 pm

    Just a note – we live in the tropics and our salt dough beads got moldy! sigh!

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      April 2, 2013 at 6:17 pm

      Oh that is a shame! We till have ours from well over two years ago and they are fine. I guess salt dough isn’t suitable for humid climates.

      Reply
  30. Mika says

    April 15, 2016 at 4:24 am

    Hello! I was wondering if the salt dough would expand the same way by air drying as it would by baking it. I don’t have an oven at the moment.

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      April 15, 2016 at 9:27 am

      Ideally you don’t want salt dough to expand – so air drying IS BEST… Be sure to turn it a few times (sometimes you get a “wet looking patch on the back”) and may take a week.. depending on time of year.. Summer and sun can be just a few hours!

      Reply
      • Mika says

        April 18, 2016 at 8:24 am

        Thanks! I don’t mind the wait. Now I just need to get the ingredients after I get off work tomorrow so I can start on Tuesday.

        Reply
  31. Sarah says

    February 26, 2018 at 1:27 am

    Could you bake them on the skewers?

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      February 26, 2018 at 9:05 am

      I think they would get “stuck”

      Reply

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