Both cheap and easy to make, salt dough ornaments are a great addition to any holiday season.
Your kids are sure to love creating their own!
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Why Make Salt Dough Ornaments
Pouring, stirring, squeezing, and painting all require the use of your little one’s fine motor skills.
By making these salt dough ornaments, you can strengthen fine motor muscles in a fun way.
Bringing your littles into the kitchen and having them follow a recipe is a great way to get them used to making things.
This skill will be useful when your littles have grown and it’s time for them to make their own meals (and hopefully clean up after themselves, too 😉 ).
Your littles can take creative ownership of their salt dough ornaments.
Maybe they will color them all blue because that is their favorite color.
Perhaps they mix four colors to find out that it will create brown or black.
Either way, embrace what they choose to do because it will become a great memory for you and it will boost their self-confidence in their work.
Salt Dough Ornaments make great keepsakes and gifts.
Any activity that is a craft AND a gift or keepsake is a win in my book.
Have your little ones paint one side and you can write on the blank side to use them as gift tags.
You may also choose to have your little one write her name on the back with a marker so you remember how she wrote her name (and the year).
No more trying to rack your brain about which kid made the salt dough ornament. 😉
Items Needed to Make Ornaments
- 4 cups of flour
- 1 cup of fine salt
- 1 cup to 1 and 1/2 cups of warm water
- bowl
- twine, string, or ribbon
- straw or something to make a small hole
- cookie cutters
- Rolling pin
- Oven
- Paint & Paintbrush
- marker (optional; to write the name and year of the person who made the ornament)
How to Make Salt Dough Ornaments
1- Pour 4 cups of flour and 1 cup of salt into a bowl.
Have your little one mix it around so that both the salt and the flour are incorporated together.
2- Slowing add 1 cup of warm water.
Have your little one use his hands (or a spoon to start)to mix the dough around.
Work the mixture together to make a ball of dough.
You may need to add up a 1/2 cup more water to get it workable enough to make a dough.
3- Knead the dough until it is soft. This will take about 5 minutes.
4- Roll out the dough to about 1/8 inch thick.
5- Using the cookie cutters, cut out salt dough ornaments.
You can cut out some circles (using a canning jar ring or a cup) to let your littles decorate as they wish, too.
6 – Make holes using a straw at the top of the salt dough ornaments so they can be hung up after they are completed.
7- Place ornaments on parchment paper and bake at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for 90 minutes.
You will want to flip them halfway through so both sides get baked.
*The time can vary depending on the thickness and size of the ornament.
Check every 20 minutes.
They are done when they are just firm to the touch.
They should NOT feel squishy. *
8- Once cooled, let your littles paint the salt dough ornaments.
9- After the paint has dried, add the year and name of the person that made it in marker (if desired).
10 – Place the string through the hole and tie it to make a loop to hang the ornament.
11- Give it as a gift or hang it on your tree!
Salt Dough Ornaments
From squishing together the ingredients to making their salt dough ornaments their own by painting them, your littles are sure to enjoy this activity.
The added bonus is that they make adorable gift tags or presents!