There’s nothing better than a Christmas craft that serves as a decoration that you can hang on your Christmas tree or elsewhere. Or even better, the product you or your child makes can last for many years. This is why we love making salt dough decorations, they are a fun project the whole family can do together and are great for creating memories.
From salt dough handprints to salt dough Christmas ornaments to hang on the tree, these ideas will spark your imagination. Chances are you already have everything you need at home to start making salt dough Christmas decorations with your kids, and even if you don’t make a quick stop at the grocery store, you’ll have everything ready (and it’s cheap).
No matter what type of decoration you make, the basic recipe is always the same, although you can tweak it a bit by adding spices like cinnamon for aroma and color. We’re also sharing our favorite salt dough recipe to help make your experience a success!
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How to make salt dough – Simple salt dough recipe
If you’ve never made salt dough before, here’s a quick and simple recipe you can use. This worked best for us. Making handmade decorations is the best part of the holidays (besides the food).
- flour (1 cup) – all-purpose flour is great
- half cup salt (1/2 cup)
- water – warm (1/4 to 1/2 cup – start with 1/4 and add more if needed)
- First mix the dry ingredients
- Slowly add the water and stir well as you add it
- Knead the dough until it has an even consistency
- Roll out dough (ideally 1/4 inch)
- Shape your ornament (remove excess dough)
- Bake at about 200°F / 100°C (place them on parchment paper)) after an hour, carefully flip the decorations and bake for another hour. Check to see if it’s done, if not, bake for another hour, checking occasionally.
For more tips and tricks, read our full guide to making salt dough.
Important! When making ornaments, you will need to make holes in the top of each ornament to thread the string before baking them. Using straws to make holes works great.
The best ideas for salt dough decorations
It’s starting to look, and if you mix in cinnamon, smell a lot like Christmas! We just know you and your kids will love these DIY decoration ideas. This is a great way to start a fun tradition this holiday season, why not create new traditions each year and add to your collection?
Below is a selection of our favorite salt dough decorations.
Fingerprint Christmas tree
This is easily one of our favorite holiday traditions. Make a larger salt dough ornament shaped like a Christmas tree. Click on the fingerprints of all family members. Grill. Paint ornaments, turn fingerprints into jewelry. Don’t forget to write down the year of manufacture of this handmade decoration.
Paw Print Salt Dough Decoration
You can take your fur babies to ornament making sessions. Children will love this idea, however, this is best done with an adult as you need to assess whether your pet is willing to cooperate. That said, this is a quick one for pets. Prepare the dough, gently press your feet into the dough and create decorative shapes. Bake and done! You can leave it as is or color it in the print. Using Mod Podge, you can also add some biodegradable glitter to make this sparkle.
Puffy painted star
Puffy paint or puffy paint is a great craft paint that has a slight 3D effect. Most of these paints are sold as fabric paints but also work for regular craft projects. Complete your creations with these paints and they will look amazing.
Santa Claus Handprint Salt Dough Decoration
This Santa Claus salt dough ornament is one of the Christmas staples.
Reindeer footprints
Salt dough handprint ornaments may be the most popular decorations, but you don’t need to limit yourself to just handprints when footprints can work just as well. Learn how to make a keepsake with reindeer footprints.
Ginger salt dough decorations
These are the sweetest and not only look beautiful but will also fill your home with festive scents. They are made using almost the same salt dough garnish recipe as the others, the difference is that you will add a teaspoon or two of cinnamon to the dry ingredients and a pinch of ground cardamom. This will add a distinctive brown color to the dough as well as a Christmas smell. Use gingerbread man cookie cutters to create shapes and paint them white (preferably puffy) to make decorations.
Mushroom
Not everything has to be Christmas themed, you can make the cutest DIY mushroom salt dough decorations ever. Use a mushroom cookie cutter (or use a free-form cutter). Once done, paint the top with red or other paint and make white drops. You can also use puff paint to highlight mushroom caps and spots and give them a glossy look.
Ornaments stamped with nature
When you’re out, grab a few pine branches or branches from another type of conifer. You can also use leaves, but conifers bring out the best holiday spirit.
Roll out the dough, press the branches and twigs to emboss on the dough. Use cookie cutters or glass jars to cut into shapes. Make a hole and transfer the pine ornaments to a baking tray to bake them. Once done and once they’ve cooled, paint the raised parts to make them stand out.
Sparkling salt dough decorations
If your kids enjoy making crafts using glitter (with so many biodegradable options these days, glitter is fun to reuse), making little stars sparkle is a must. After baking, paint the stars with yellow or gold paint. Let it dry. Apply glue or mod glue and shower with biodegradable glitter magic.
Name stamp idea
If your kids want to make their own items that could truly be called salt dough ornaments, let them make these simple name-stamped items. This one requires a little more supplies since you’ll have to buy postage stamps, but it’s a great stamp (especially to make in the classroom as a craft). Once finished, carefully paint inside the stamped letters to make the name stand out.
Hand-made dried pressed flowers with salt powder
When it comes to creating this type of craft, the magic is in the entire process, not just the end result (although the end result is often not the magic). It’s measuring, mixing, kneading… The joy of baking salt dough decorations and taking them out of the oven. Children should be involved in the entire process. Most of the fun of dried pressed flowers comes from making and baking the dough. Once removed from the oven and dried, have the kids carefully apply Modge Podge or paper mache to the ornament and place a dried flower on top. Simple and elegant.
Decorate with heart salt dough
These are great for Christmas, but even better for Valentine’s Day! When making a batch of salt dough, you can also add food coloring to turn the dough red (or another color). Depending on the food coloring (not all are equally dark), you will get different shades. You can always paint over the powder if you’re not happy with the results. To make these beautiful salt dough decorations, press lace, doilies, or even better, use embossed cookie cutters.
Beautiful ornaments made with handprints
The most heartfelt homemade salt dough ornaments are definitely those made with handprints. And even if you keep things really simple, the end result is still amazing. Once the dough is rolled out, let your child press it with his hands. Cut out to form desired shape and bake. Once removed from the oven and cooled, apply glue or mod glue to the fingerprint and sprinkle biodegradable glitter all over it. Let the glue dry then remove the excess glitter.
Use them as mini canvases
The classic salt dough recipe is basically just a way for you to make moldable clay at home instead of buying fancy air-dry clay and the like, so sculpt the ornaments and Create small works of painted art. This is a great idea for older kids, all it takes is a little creativity. Make circular or other shaped ornaments and have children draw little pictures on them. The sky is the limit.
Mom and me/Dad and me
One of our favorite activities when it comes to crafts are those that involve the whole family or at least a couple. This is why we love this mom and me or dad and me ornament.
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Categories: Activities for Kids
Source: fetb.edu.vn