CREATING PERSONALISED HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS WITH THE KIDS
This salt dough recipe is a quick, easy, homemade recipe that takes minutes. It’s the perfect rainy-day activity at any time of year but we love to spend an afternoon together, during the festive season, making Christmas decorations for our tree but also to use as gifts for our family, friends, teachers, and sometimes even the postie!
WHY MAKE SALT DOUGH?
It’s a great activity to encourage kids of all ages to help with measuring the ingredients, kneading and rolling out the dough, using the cutters, popping them on a tray, setting a timer and it’s also helpful for little ones to use and develop their fine motor skills.
IS IT REALLY THAT EASY?
There are three basic, household ingredients that you need to make salt dough – Plain all-purpose flour, table salt, and warm water.
There are some recipes where you can add other ingredients to enhance them by adding spices, essential oils, or even colourings but you need to be a little wary that the added ingredients don’t affect the texture and consistency of the dough too much.
Once you’ve created your ornaments, remember to pop a small hole in the top of each one, they can be popped in the oven or air-dried in a safe place.
Alternatively, if your children are eager to paint them, you can dry them quicker in the microwave, but we suggest popping them on some kitchen towel and microwaving them in short bursts of approximately 10 seconds, checking them regularly. Don’t try to speed this process up by leaving it longer than a 10-second burst as you may burn the decoration and all that time you spent creating them will be wasted. Once dry, leave to cool before adding any paint etc. Some decorations will take less time than others to dry depending on their thickness, so it would be worth doing them one by one.
IT’S TIME TO GET DECORATING
Once they are dry, they can then be painted with acrylic paints, sprinkled with a little glitter and sealed with Modge Podge or a slightly watered-down PVA glue or something similar, then find a beautiful ribbon to tie through the hole and hang them adoringly on your Christmas tree, or add them as a gift tag, for a lovely, personal touch.
Why not consider customising your decorations with;
- Hand, foot or fingerprints for memories that last. What a lovely gift for grandparents! After all the salt in the dough helps preserve them for years to come.
- A ribbon that is as long as the child to remember how tall they were when they made the decoration
- Add a photo on each one and seal with Modge Podge or a mix of PVA glue with a little water.
So now you know how let’s get cracking, here’s the recipe.
CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS SALT DOUGH RECIPE
Prep Time: 15 mins | Cook Time: 1 Hour
Number of decorations: Approx 24
| Equipment: | Ingredients: | Optional Extras: |
| Large Bowl | 500g Plain Flour | Ribbon or String |
| Baking Tray | 250g Table Salt | Acrylic Paint |
| Rolling Pin | 125ml Warm Water | Glitter |
| Cookie Cutters | ||
| Straw or Toothpick |
- In the large bowl, mix the flour & salt
- Start adding the water gradually and continue mixing
- Lightly flour a hard surface (like the kitchen worktop)
- Once the mixture is forming a dough, turn it out onto the surface
- Knead the dough until it’s smooth
- Roll out the dough to the desired thickness, approx. 5mm works best
- Cut out your decorations, make a hole for the ribbon & add them to the baking tray
- Bake in the oven for 1 hour at 150°C or pop to one side to air dry
Once dry, ornaments can be painted using acrylic paints, sealed with Modge Podge or PVA and a little water & hung with a ribbon of your choice. If you are wondering what Modge Podge is, it’s a water-based sealer, glue, and finish for all surfaces. We normally grab ours from Amazon or Hobbycraft.
For the full downloadable PDF recipe to print and keep at home, and for more downloadable freebies click here, or print this blog.
