November 15, 2020

Salt Dough Ornaments

I had made salt dough ornaments in school as a kid, but I had never made them with Izzy. So on one rainy day, we decided to make some. They are so easy to make and we had such a blast! I think we are going to make some more soon.

How can I make this educational?

Measuring (math & cognitive development): While measuring discuss how two of the 1/2 cups will fill 1 cup. Ask your child, “If I have 1 thing and break it in half, how many pieces do I have?” If they need a visual, find something you can demonstrate that 1 thing broken in half equals 2 pieces. And those two pieces go back together to make that 1 piece. Now back to the measuring. Fill the 1/2 cup and have your child pour it into the cup. Now have them pour another 1/2 cup into the cup. This way they are being exposed to measurement & seeing how those two 1/2 cups will fill the 1 cup. Cutting Shapes (math & fine motor): Talk about the shapes of your cookie cutters as you cut out the ornaments. Allow your child to help with the cookies cutters & help pull the extra dough from around the cut out shape.

Ingredients

4 cups of flour

1 cup table salt

1 1/2 cups warm water

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In a large mixing bowl add the flour and salt & stir together. Slowly add the warm water. Start mixing and kneading with hands for roughly 5 minutes. Now take half of the mixture and place on a silicone baking mat. Cover with a piece of parchment paper and roll out. If you don’t have a silicone baking mat, you can use a piece of parchment paper in it’s place.

Now is the fun part. Use cups, cookie cutters, forks and more to cut out and create your ornaments. Be sure to make a whole for the ornament string prior to baking. You can use a straw, we used a chopstick.

Bake on 300°F for 30 mins to an hour or until hard. Let cool, then decorate! We painted with acrylic paint, added glitter and glazed with mod podge.

Lastly, snip pieces of green wire and create a hook for your ornaments.