This was such a popular post last year, we thought we would pull it from the archives and re-post it for this holiday season.
Over on our “That’s what holiday memories are made of” post, Birmingham mom & reader Kerry said that she and her children enjoy making salt dough ornaments and hanging them on the kids very own tree. So we found a recipe to share with all of you, so you can make your own Christmas memories with salt dough ornaments!
What you’ll need:
- ½ cup salt
- 1 cup flour
- ½ cup water
- Rolling pin
- Cookie sheet
- Toothpick
- Miniature cookie cutters in holiday themes, or you can just let the kids be creative
- Various colors of acrylic paint, glitter, glue – your imagination is the only boundary here
- ribbon to string your ornament
How to make it:
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
- Mix together, salt, flour, and water until dough is formed – use your hands if needed.
- Knead the dough on a floured surface until the mixture is elastic and smooth. If dough is too sticky, sprinkle with flour, continue to do so until stickiness is gone. Do not add too much flour, this will dry out the dough and will cause it to crack before you get a chance to bake it.
- Roll out the dough to about ¼” thick with a rolling pin that has been dusted with flour.
- Cut out whatever shapes you’d like
- Make a hole at the top of your ornament (you can use a toothpick and swirl it around until the hole is big enough).
- Place all shapes onto an ungreased cookie sheet and place into the preheated oven.
- Bake for 2 hours.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
- Paint and decorate your ornaments
- Use the handle end of the paint brush to dot on ornaments by dipping into paint then dotting onto ornament.
- When dry, thread ribbon through hole and tie in a knot in the back.
(recipe courtesy of Kaboose – with a few variations)
Thanks for sharing the recipe. I’m going to bookmark this so I can come back later and print out the recipe.
Let us know how they turn out! We’re going to do some next week when my oldest is out of school!
I love this idea! The kids and I paint a few glass ornaments each year, but this one seems much more fun!
flashbacks!….I remember making these when I was very small. Thanks for sharing.
The above recipe is really sticky! I found this recipe:
1 c. salt
4 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c. warm water
I have not tested this recipe yet.
This is a fun activity, and may become a tradition in our family.
Thanks
I understand that if too sticky you should add more flour. I’m going to try these out this week – I’ll try out your recipe too! Thanks so much for sharing.