These adorable Salt Dough Footprint Heart Keepsakes where first shared in 2015!
A big hello to all of you Red Ted Art readers, I am Amy Louise. After several years of working in a Primary School, I am now a stay at home Mom to a lovely little girl who is now 2 years old. I blog over at Learning and Exploring Through Play, we share activities, arts, crafts and sensory play activities with a focus of bringing a creative approach to child development. I have a passion for children learning through their play.Make some Salt dough for your Footprint Keepsake
Salt dough is super easy and versatile to make – simply mix the following (adding the water gradually).
- 2 Cups of Flour
- 1 Cup of Salt
- upto 1 cup of water
Making your Footprint Keepsake:
We set about making our Salt Dough Heart Footprint Keepsake using our simple Salt Dough Recipe. In 5 simple steps and 3 ingredients you can create endless crafts, gifts and keepsakes for any occasion.
Little N enjoyed measuring the salt and flour into the cups, adding them to the bowl and giving them a good mix together, she was in her element! I like her being involved in preparations where possible.
I folded the dough until it came together to make the mixture and used a tray to roll out the dough. The mixture this recipe makes will make one set of footprints (as pictured), we had only a small amount left over.
Once the dough was rolled out, we set about getting Little N’s footprints into the dough. We overlapped her heels to create a footprint heart.
Using a sharp knife I cut around the footprints and created a heart ornament. I left it overnight and most of the following day to air dry before putting it into the oven at 125 degrees Fahrenheit for around 3-4 hours. I kept a close check on them to make sure they wasn’t burning or cracking.
Once they were dry it was time to set about painting them. I did this using acrylic paints.
When the painting was done, I used a black pen to include a saying around the edges ‘I love you from the very bottom of my heart, to the tips of my toes.’ I used clear varnish to seal them but you can also use PVA glue.
Now wasn’t that just the easiest footprint keepsake ever?! I hope you like it and have a go too!
You may also like:
Amy joins us on our 31 Days of Love series for January 2015. This is a “Love” themed series we first started last year. It is a way, not only to bring you some fantastic Valentine’s Day Activities for you and the kids, but also to celebrate the blogging community that I am a part of. 40 (we aimed for 31, but ended up extending to 40) of my co-bloggers, share a post each day about Love with you this month. There will be Valentine’s Day Cards, Valentine’s Day Decorations, Valentine’s Day Treats or Valentine’s Day Gifts for you check out and enjoy!
If you loved these adorable keepsakes.. you will also LOVE LOVE LOVE these Valentine’s Day Crafts for Preschoolers:
Check out a round up of last year’s Valentine’s Day Card ideas? 14 in total – one of each Valentine’s “Day”….
Sharon LeBlanc says
January 3, 2015 at 10:37 pmwhy does it look like the feet prints are raised on the painted one and the ones on the foil look like its an imprint???
Red Ted Art says
January 4, 2015 at 4:46 pmI think it is just a trick of the light and reflection of the light, Sharon?
amy payne says
January 4, 2015 at 10:00 pmI would love to try this with my baby girl.What is the measurements of salt and flour please and thank you
Red Ted Art says
January 5, 2015 at 8:00 amSo long as you keep the parts the same – you can use any amount – 2 large cups of flour, 1 large cup of salt, or two small cups of flour etc…
Lynn Roberts says
January 5, 2015 at 7:22 amHi ! I lkie this keep sending me things like this i like to this with my grand kids . Lynn
Chris LeBlanc says
January 5, 2015 at 1:08 pmi want to make your salt footprints
Red Ted Art says
January 5, 2015 at 3:07 pmThat is great! Have fun – there is a link to the salt dough recipe in the body of the text!
Leslie dean says
January 5, 2015 at 1:48 pmWould like to makes these with my grandchildren, wondering how much water to add?
Red Ted Art says
January 5, 2015 at 3:07 pmYou add UP TO one cup of water! (same cup size as for flour and salt). Gradually add the water until you have a smooth dough!
Juile says
January 5, 2015 at 5:51 pmSo excited I saw this idea. Perfect to send to my daughter’s birth families!!!!
Audrey Markle says
January 6, 2015 at 1:50 pmNeat idea for children to do.
Pam Johnson says
January 9, 2015 at 3:17 pmAny suggestions on how to make a good foot print? Every time I have tried in the past it never works. You can’t see the actual prints.
Shirley Wood says
January 20, 2015 at 3:21 pmThis is such a precious craft. We would love for you to share with our readers at the Spring Craft Blog Hop going on now. #SCBH2015
Andrea Rose Wachtel says
January 25, 2015 at 7:31 pmWhen baking it at 125 is that Celsius or farenheit? My oven doesn’t go Nas low as 125 so I’ve had it on the lowest setting of 170 for almost 5 hours and the still seem soft…..suggestions?
Red Ted Art says
January 26, 2015 at 9:17 amSaltdough really takes a while to dry out – I tend to have it in the oven for 2-3 hours and then take it out and let it dry near a radiator for an additional 2-3 days before painting. You CAN heat the oven right up – the only risk is a) that the edges turn brown (but not so bad if you are painting it anyway) and b) the saltdough can bubble up a little.
Sabine says
January 26, 2015 at 2:06 amyou can also use cold left over coffee or black tea to change the shade of the dough
Deanne says
January 30, 2015 at 4:46 pmI get so frustrated because I cannot print the craft projects that I see on here. I am subscribed to the site. Please help!
Red Ted Art says
January 30, 2015 at 4:52 pmCan you not print the webpage off? won’t your printer let you do that?
miss.adams says
January 31, 2015 at 2:14 pmWhat do you do if it cracks while in the oven? And how do you prevent it from cracking before you put it in the oven?
Lara DeFrisco says
February 1, 2015 at 1:39 amLove this idea!! It’ll be such a fun activity to do with my little… Quick question, to seal it, do you think I could use modge podge glue?
kris says
February 10, 2015 at 4:44 amI was wondering the same exact thing.
Jill Miller says
February 7, 2015 at 12:27 amA few days ago Happy Hooligans put a recipe off of your site fir a heart garland. The ingredients were baking soda, corn starch and water. I’m just not sure the amounts of each. Can you help me? Thank you!
Red Ted Art says
February 7, 2015 at 10:43 amHello Jill – where you after this recipe here – https://www.redtedart.com/2015/01/12/white-clay-heart-bunting-valentines-day-decoration/ ?
Hop 'n' Play Daycare says
March 10, 2015 at 7:35 pmClay dough was substituted with large paper plates. One paper plate features the heart shape foot prints of the toddler & preschool daycare children with your quote along the edges of the paper plate. The second paper plate features their heart shape hand prints with the same quote with the exception of the word “fingers” substituting the word “toes”. We look forward to your creative, easy, fun & inexpensive crafts for future daycare crafts & will continue to tell others about your website.
kira says
January 5, 2016 at 9:55 pmHi i hust made these with my daughter and took them out of the oven after less than 2 hours because they are rising… im not sure what i did wrong… please help i would love to fix it
Red Ted Art says
January 6, 2016 at 2:46 pmHow hot did you have the oven? If the oven is too hot, they will bubble 🙁
Lyndsi says
January 21, 2016 at 1:10 amHi! I don’t know if you still check this, but I wanted to tell you how much I am in love with this project. It was time consuming, but easy. I did mine just like yours with just a minor change. I love it so much- I made four! Cool thing is the more you make, you can save the left over dough and make another! Lol. Before cooking I added a big hole on the top and when it was done I strung ribbon through it and tied a cute little bow for decoration. Thank you, it’s going to make a great present for the grandmas!!!!
Red Ted Art says
January 21, 2016 at 9:26 amAwwww so pleased to hear it and thanks for the tip!!! 🙂
Hop 'n' Play Daycare says
January 27, 2016 at 4:41 pmTo make this project for one infant, two toddlers and one Pre-K child should I triple or quadruple the recipe?
Courtney says
February 6, 2016 at 6:07 amHey I followed all of your instructions and put in the same ingredients and followed how you said to do It. When I put it in the oven it started turning like a gold color and it’s not fully hard and from where it was drying the flour it looks like it cracked but it was only in there an hour. What did I do wrong?
Vanessa says
February 12, 2016 at 2:29 amHello,
I used this recipe and let my heart sit out to dry, well, it cracked. Do you have any suggestions on how to fix this? Or what I did wrong?
Red Ted Art says
February 12, 2016 at 9:43 amOh I am not sure why it cracked 🙁 so sorry to hear it and not really sure how to fix it either.
Elizabeth Parish says
February 15, 2016 at 1:01 amI want to do this with my boys. My one ? is once you mix the ingredients and then roll it out how do you get it into the heart shaped and how did you get yours to have some depth to it?