How to make salt dough step by step?

Combine flour and salt in a bowl. Add water, a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition. Knead dough for 10 minutes. Wrap and let rest for 20 minutes .

How to make salt playdough?

Salt Play Dough 1-cup salt 4 cups flour 1 ½ cups water 4tbs. oil Mix flour and salt. Add water and oil slowly to the dry ingredients, stirring with a spoon until well blended. Knead dough until soft and pliable.

What is the ratio for salt dough?

The salt dough recipe You want a ratio of one part salt and two parts flour . For making just a few little salt dough creations with your kids, one cup salt and two cups flour should be enough. If you want to prepare more, just increase the number of cups proportionally.

How to make salt dough with 3 ingredients?

Salt Dough Recipe for Ornaments Take one cup of plain flour (all-purpose flour), one cup of table salt and mix together in a large mixing bowl. Add a little warm water. ... Knead the dough to form a ball – making sure the dough isn't too dry — or too sticky. Roll out your dough and start to cut out your shapes. More items...

How do you harden salt dough quickly?

Microwave. The quickest method to dry dough is in the microwave , but the dough will probably rise a bit. If you want a speedy technique and your kids aren't fussy, it takes about 1 minute – check it every 10 seconds.

Can you let salt dough air dry?

Salt dough is a great material for making basic sculptures and three dimensional craft projects. It is an all-natural alternative to commercial play dough and homemade air-dry clay. Your finished salt dough sculptures can either be air-dried or oven-dried to set .

Can you overcook salt dough?

If you overcook them, they tend to bubble up . As everyone's dough will be mixed differently and microwaves have different levels of power, please keep an eye on your creations when they are cooking. Take them out to check their dryness – CAREFUL - THEY WILL BE HOT!

What if salt dough is too wet?

If the dough is too wet and sticky, knead in a little more flour . If it's too stiff, add a little more water.

How do you know when salt dough is done?

Bake the dough at 250 degrees F or about 2 hours. You want to bake them until they're hardened. They will harden a little more once you remove them from the oven and let them cool but you want them to have a good hard texture before you remove them from the oven.

How to tell when salt dough is baked?

You want to bake them until they're hardened. They will harden a little more once you remove them from the oven and let them cool but you want them to have a good hard texture before you remove them from the oven. The bottoms will be slightly browned but the tops should still be dough colored .

How wet should salt dough be?

Note: The dough should be soft and not too stiff or sticky . If it's difficult to work with, adjust the texture by adding a spoonful of water (if it's too stiff) or a spoonful of flour (if it's too wet or sticky) at a time.

What to seal salt dough ornaments with?

How do I preserve and store these Salt Dough Ornaments? In order to keep your ornaments and use them for several years, it is best to seal them. Painting them with acrylic paint, if you choose to, will begin the process. But a coat of Mod Podge or Acrylic sealer that is applied like a spray paint will be needed.

How to make salt dough: Easy salt dough recipe (2024)

These finished decorations make lovely thank you gifts or Christmas tree decorations and they are one of our personal absolute favourite ways to introduce children to the joy of crafting! Share our easy salt dough recipe with your friends and family and spread the crafting joy.

Simple salt dough recipe FAQ

How long do you bake salt dough?

Bake your salt dough decorations for 3 hours at 140°C (Gas Mark 1)

What flour do you use for salt dough?

In our salt dough recipe we use plain white flour. We’ve tried making them with wholemeal flour too but it didn’t work as well, so would recommend using white. It’s our tried and tested salt dough recipe and we promise it will deliver the best results!

How long does salt dough last?

In our experience, salt dough decorations will last for years once you’ve baked and decorated them, so they make a lovely keepsake. We’ve had decorations last over 20 years with no deterioration. To help them last longer, paint them with a layer of decoupage glue or clear varnish to seal the colours.

How to make salt dough ornaments shiny

Simply paint your finished decorations with a clear varnish layer. We recommend one of the following…

What paint to use on salt dough?

For best results, we’re big fans of using acrylic paints or poster paints as you get a really strong colour and they’re really easy for kids to use. You can get a starter set of rainbow colours pretty cheaply. We like these Poster Paint Pots by Baker Ross and their Acrylic Paints range is also a good place to start with painting sourdough.

Is it better to bake or air dry salt dough?

A question we get asked a lot is, can you air dry salt dough? Yes you can. Your salt dough shapes will naturally harden in the air if you leave them for a few days at room temperature. Turn them over a few times to help them dry evenly on both sides.

How long salt dough takes to harden using the air drying method depends on how big your shapes are, but they will take between 2 and 7 days to dry completely.

In my family we prefer baking for quicker results but this method does bring with it a greater risk of cracking in the heat (we’re not hugely neat kids crafters in our house so this doesn’t hugely bother us), but if you’re not keen on the cracking risk then try both methods and see which one works best for your project.

10 salt dough gift ideas to try

Christmas tree decorations

Reach for some cookie cutters and cut simple but stylish tree decorations! For a fun finish, stamp greetings into them. If you’re short of time, you can always cheat and buy this set of clay tree decorations by Handmade by L Davies on Etsy (£12.95 for 12)

Baby handprint keepsakes

Salt dough shapes are so easy to mix and mould, why not use it to welcome new arrivals by making a baby keepsake for their parents or grandparents? This example below is actually a Soft Air Dry Clay Kit (from £8.99 on Etsy) – this idea works equally well with Air Dry Clay, Fimo or use the salt dough recipe in this post.

Salt dough initials

This is a sweet way to personalise your salt dough decorations – shape your dough into letters of the alphabet. Burlap and Blue has a great tutorial to show you how to make salt dough letter ornaments.

Salt dough dishes and bowls

Salt dough holds its shape when it hardens so you don’t have to stick to 2D decorations. Use your hands to mould it into a simple trinket dish, then have fun painting it once it’s dry – the brighter the better! Kids will get a real kick out of making their own bowl to store all their treasures in. We like this tutorial for DIY salt dough jewellery dishes from the Bee-ing Mommy blog.

Salt dough gift tags

Quick, easy and a great way to add a homemade touch to simple or recycled gift wrap – whip up a quick batch of circle salt dough ornaments and stamp details to turn them into gift tags. Just punch a hole before you bake or leave to harden, then you can tie it with ribbon or thread later! For more tips, head over to Rainy Day Mum for her How to make Stamped Salt Dough Gift Tags tutorial.

Salt dough candle holders

Another easy 3D shape to mould out of salt dough would be simple candle holders – wrap them up with a pack of candles for a lovely cosy winter gift. Or if you’re not sure you’ve got time to make a batch, Kairos Lab have these lovely ceramic candle holders you could treat yourself to (£24.95, Etsy).

Salt dough rainbow

As salt dough is so easy to mould, it’s very quick to roll into a series of rolls and arrange them in a rainbow formation. You can either paint your rainbow once it’s hard, or add a bit of food colouring to the salt dough when you’re making it with our salt dough recipe to create different shades for the different parts of the rainbow. Check out a full tutorial over on Learning 4 Kids.

Salt dough mosaics

If you leave your salt dough to air dry, why not experiment with pressing pieces of sea glass, broken shells or small pebbles into your salt dough to make fun mosaics? Use this idea to make a photo frame or a mosaic picture! If you’re not sure what to use for the mosaic pieces, Baker Ross have a handy set of mosaic stones (£12.95 per 1KG)

Salt dough paperweight

The beauty of this easy salt dough project idea is you can make paperweights to suit anyone in the family. Lemon Lime Adventures has a fun lightening bolt, salt dough paperweight DIY for any super hero or Harry Potter fans to try. Or you could so easily adapt this to make a flower-shape, animal shape or maybe even a sports ball shape for golf or football fans in your life.

Salt dough animals

We have yet to make a child who isn’t naturally interested in making their own simple animals out of play dough or clay. Whip up salt dough snails, insects and pets by moulding your salt dough into your favourite animals! The Scottish Wildlife Trust has a fun DIY to get you started.

We hope you enjoyed our easy salt dough recipe for kids. You might also like our sister posts, Paper mache ideas for kids, How to make loom bands, how to make slime and How to make a kaleidoscope.