Salt Dough Keepsake Ornament

• Posted on 6 December 2020
• By Lindsay Donnelly
• Posted in activity, christmas, holiday, toddler
• 0

A fun and easy activity for little ones of all ages to help create a homemade holiday ornament.

Having two little ones under 5 years old makes the Holidays so special. I find myself decorating more, playing Christmas music more, and really leaning into festive traditions. I want them to form their earliest memories of this season with the scents, sounds, and family activities 

I wanted to create an impression ornament so I could remember how small my children were this year in particular. Even better, I wanted them to be involved in the process so that we had a fun family activity to fill up an afternoon. I found a few recipes for salt dough ornaments and tweaked them and condensed the directions for you here. 

Ingredients for Salt Dough:

1. All Purpose Flour - 4 Cups
2. Table Salt - 1 1/2 Cups
3. Water - 2 Cups

Supplies needed:

1. Large mixing bowl
2. Parchment Paper
3. Sharp pencil, nail, or small straw
4. Rolling Pin
5. Baking Sheet
6. Acrylic Paint
7. Glitter Glue
8. Ribbon

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees
2. Mix all ingredients in the large bowl until a dough begins to form
3. Once dough has taken shape, form a ball and knead until a firm yet shapeable consistency is created (If too firm, add water. If too sticky, add flour.)
4. Roll out the dough to 1/4in. thickness on the parchment paper
5. Have your child press their hand into the dough to create an impression of their hand or feet 
6. Use a round cup, bowl, or cookie cutter to cut out the ornament shape around the impression
7. using the sharp pencil, nail, or straw - poke two holes in the top of the ornament for the ribbon to go through
8. Place the parchment paper and ornament on a baking sheet and pop into the oven for 2 hours
9. After 2 hours, check to make sure the dough has hardened and is not mushy. If it hasn't hardened, allow to bake up to another hour, checking every 20 minutes
10. Allow the ornaments to fully cool before painting
11. Using Acrylic paint, pain the ornament all over and allow to dry
12. Using glitter glue, outline the hand print in the impression and then using a paintbrush, drag the glitter to fill in the handprint
13. Allow to dry
14. Thread the ribbon through the holes in the ornament and tie a bow, voila!