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22 November 2013

Salt Dough Decorations

The Christmas crafts have begun and first up were some simple salt dough decorations!




You will need
Salt
Plain flour
Water
Cutters
Paint and brush
Ribbon
Glitter, sequins, pens etc (optional)

The ratio I use is a portion of flour to half a portion of salt and half a portion of water. Firstly you need to mix the flour and salt together and then slowly add the water to create a soft dry dough - it shouldn't be sticky!

Knead for a few minutes until smooth and then roll the dough out to around 1cm in thickness.
If you do it any thicker it takes a lot longer for the decorations to dry and any thinner they can break.

This is a fun sensory activity for the kids to get stuck in with!



Use the cutters to cut out the shapes you require (we chose stars, Christmas trees and reindeer for a festive theme) then place them onto a baking tray.
Don't forget to make a hole in the top of each so you can hang them up, we used a straw to do this.

Place the decorations in the oven at 75 degrees for 90 minutes on each side.
You will know when they are done as they will be firm and slightly lighter in colour.

Jamster selected a HUGE paintbrush!

We used paint to decorate each and added some glitter for a pretty sparkle to finish.
We inserted ribbon through the holes to hang them from the tree with although you could easily make them into bunting.




We also used our hands to create some Santa decorations by cutting around each and pressing down firmly to leave finger indentations. These were baked in the same way and then decorated with red and white paint to look like Father Christmas.
We dabbed a little pink paint on too for blushed cheeks and used a felt tip pen for detailing.


What Christmas crafts have you been making?

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37 comments

  1. Great ideas

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  2. Love the Santa hand print :-) a lovely keepsake

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  3. Aww these are lovely you look like you had fun making them I think im going to have a go with my two boys x

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  4. These look lovely - what a great idea.

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  5. I love these. Definitely going to make them with my boys. Thanks for the idea

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  6. My daughter will love to make these, I am going to give it a go!

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  7. these look great, I love the santa

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  8. so cute! We are going to make these tomorrow!

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  9. Fab~ another thing to do on my craft day~thank you :)

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  10. Really cute ideas. x

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  11. Cant wait to make some with my two little ones :) thankyou x

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  12. I'm definitely putting these on my Christmas activities list :) #MessyPlay

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  13. Sure will give this a go.

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  14. Think I will get my twin boys making some decorations this year, this looks fab and easy to do thanks x

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  15. I've always wanted to give salt dough a try and this post makes me want to do it even more :) x

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  16. Fab ideas, will have to try them with my girls

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  17. These are fab. Look forward to my lil guy being older so we can make together :) x

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  18. Will try to remember to do these for this Christmas! What a great idea and quite easy to do with children.

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  19. fab idea. x

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  20. We make these on rain/snow days. So easy and cheap!

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  21. I love your Santa! I'm definitely giving that a go this Xmas (Even though it's a long way off). I love making salt dough handprints as keepsakes as it's nice to look back on and see how much my little lady has grown.

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  22. Great ideas, Dough can be so useful and fun for craft.

    Rachel Craig

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  23. I got a book from the library when the children were little and we made 'ladies' as Christmas presents using a garlic press for the hair, they were lovely when painted in bright colours.

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  24. oh i love the idea of the santa with the hands, i will do this with my grandson, what a great keepsake

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  25. This is a great idea. I did salt dough hand prints for my little girl when she was born for keepsake. With Christmas coming up, I will be trying these with my daughter. x

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  26. these are fab, ive been meaning to look up how to make the dough so will save this page and try with my son 10 and daughter 2, thanks xxx

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  27. Absolutely love the santa hand print!

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  28. aw some great ideas for christmas here

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  29. Love this idea, thank you for sharing

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  30. What great ideas, think I may have to give these a go

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  31. Amazing i really need to make some of these with my boys

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  32. Excellent ideas - must give them a go - thank you!

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  33. These are great and a lovely way to personalise your tree .x

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  34. I love the father christmas - how clever

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