This salt dough recipe is great for making ornaments, handprints, beads, or whatever else you want to mold and make.
I love the “natural” look of salt dough, but you can also dye it with food coloring.
Another option is to paint the salt dough with acrylic paint after it hardens.
What Can I Make with Salt Dough?
Here are a few kid-friendly ideas for crafting with salt dough. Tap the links to see directions and photos.
- kids’ handprints and footprints (MommyMoment)
- Christmas or other holiday ornaments using cookie cutters (Wholefully)
- beads (WeeFolkArt)
- fridge magnets (RedTedArt)
- play food (CoffeeandVanilla)
- pretend dinosaur fossils (EntertainYourToddler)
How to Make Salt Dough
Are you ready to get started?
You’ll need these three ingredients to make salt dough:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup salt
- 1/2 cup water (room temp is fine)
*If you’d like to color the salt dough, add food coloring to the water before mixing the ingredients together.
Mix all three ingredients together in a bowl.
Add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time if the dough is too sticky.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured countertop until it is smooth.
Now you’re ready to create!
Drying Salt Dough
You can let your salt dough creations air-dry overnight, or bake them in the oven to get them to harden faster.
For thinner, flatter creations, bake at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for half an hour to one hour, depending on the thickness of the sculptures.
You’ll know it’s done if you poke it and it’s no longer soft.
TIP: When baking in the oven, I’ve found that the salt dough likes to spread and puff up a bit like a cookie, so if you have tiny details or small holes, you may want to air dry instead.
Thicker creations can be baked at 300-350 degrees, but check on them often to make sure they don’t burn at this temperature.
I like to move my oven rack to the middle or upper third of the oven to make sure the bottom doesn’t get too brown.
Let the salt dough cool before you handle it.
I’ve never had a problem with the dough sticking to the baking sheet, but I have lined the baking sheet with parchment paper for easy removal.
Your Turn to Create
What are you going to make? Let me know in the comments below!