I know that salt dough decorations and salt dough recipes were “all the rage” this winter. Lots of people had ago at making salt dough Christmas tree decorations – which is understandable, as they are salt dough is so easy to make and great fun for both adults and kids. We made salt dough stars and trees for our Christmas tree and also took the opportunity to make some hearts – they look great both for Christmas, AND for Valentine’s.
These wonderfully simple salt dough heats (and other variations on salt dough) feature in our Christmas Ornament Book. Each craft is shared on one page – making the perfect worksheet print outs. Lovely to have them all in one place too!
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Easy Salt Dough Recipe:
- 2 cups of flour
- 1 cup of salt
- UP TO 1 cup of water (less is better!)
- Acrylic Paints for painting
- Cookie cutters
Easy Salt Dough Hearts:
1) Mix your ingredients. Be sure to add the water gradually. I often only use 1/2 – 3/4 of a cup of water. You do not want your dough to be sticky.
2) Roll out to about 5mm.
3) Use cookie cutters to cut your shapes. Use a skewer or chopstick to make holes for hanging.
4) Bake in the oven at 100C for 3-4 hours. Do turn your salt dough items 2-3 times AND re-insert you skewer to make sure that the holes do not bake shut.
5) Once fully dry and cooled paint – I like to let my saltdough out to dry another 2-3 days “just in case”.
6) The kids painted one side and I did the other for them.
They looked great on our Christmas tree, but also will look nice as little Valentine’s decorations. We may give one or two to the children’s friends!
Do take a peak at our other Salt Dough Recipe ideas – including making beads and making coloured saltdough! (and check out these Valentines Cookies and these Valentines Cookie Pops, yummy)
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I love this idea and will be using it more than once. They look brilliant!
Fabulous, so pleased you like them!
They came out beautifully! Will you use them for Valentine’s gifts
Yes, am pretty certain Red Ted teacher will get one!
I’ve been totally obsessed with salt dough for almost 20 years! These are awesome!!! 🙂
We love salt dough ornaments, too! I love how bright red the hearts are. Thanks for sharing at the Sunday Showcase. 🙂
They are a good idea. Is that plain flour?
Yes, plain flour!
I would like to have my students make a 3-D map using salt dough. Is this recipe good for wrapping and working on over several days?
Yes, I have kept it in the fridge before. You may have to re-knead it, if salt crystals form!
This is a great idea! I’m in the process of making a round up list on Valentine’s activities. Including a link to this. 🙂
Awe thanks! Much appreciated!
What temp do you bake them at in Farenheight? Thank you for posting!
Between 120F and 200F. Prob would opt for 150F.
My oven starts at 200 so I don’t have choice.
I wouldn’t use the oven then and let it air dry.
Definitely going to try these for my toddler art club!!!! thanks for the inspiration.
Wouldn’t they dry on their own if you just leave them outside for a few days? I am looking for a no bake recipe. Thanks.
Yes, they should dry naturally too, it just takes a lot longer – prob 1-2 weeks depending on how warm the room is. Remember to keep turning them to allow to dry on both sides!
I made salt dough ornaments 20 yrs ago for craft fairs. Discovered that by letting them sit out on trays (was making lots) before putting in oven allowed them to dry on the surface, leaving them white, and then baking trays of them overnight for about 6-7 hours…they came out like porcelain (kinda)… You could also add food coloring to the water to get colored dough….have fun….cj
Honestly I can’t believe I’ve never made salt dough – it’s just we don’t have salt in the house and I never remember to buy any. They do look really good though.
I buy it “bulk” especially!!
Those are lovely.
I tend to cheat and add the paint before cooking them
thanks for linking up to the #getyourcrafton challenge 🙂
How large of a batch does this recipe make?! And my oven starts at 200…do you think they would be ok in that setting if watched carefully?!
Is that F or C? My low heat is Celsius.. so you need to convert it. If your oven really is that hot, I would let them air dry over the course of a week or so. I have no idea how many it makes, so sorry. We kind of just wing it… but probably 20-30?
Lovely I really love ur creativity
1 question. Do these get moulds or turn to dust after a particular period of time?
Mine have kept well. I have heard that SOME people have had theirs turn mouldy. I suspect that they didn’t dry it fully or didn’t store it in a dry place.
Thanks a lot will surely try this.:-)