
Having little kids I am always looking for fun inexpensive crafts. One of my favorites is those little plastic molds that you can make their handprints or feet print. It is a quick, slightly messy craft that is fun for mom and kiddo. After buying kit after kit I decided to see if I could find a way to make it myself and in a way that was non toxic. Having a kiddo who puts everything in his mouth non toxic is important. Looking over the internet I discovered salt dough. Salt dough is readily med with ingredients everyone has in their cabinets and if dried out properly will hold up for quite some time.
The Process
Mix salt and water together and add water slowly.Make sure to add water slowly or as Alijah’s face shows it will be sticky.
Knead the dough for about 10 min
Shape the dough and roll it out
Make your shapes or keepsake and bake. You can either use food coloring to dye dough before or you can paint after. Alijah wanted to paint.
Salt Dough ( handprint craft)
Edible ( but I dont recommend because yuck salty). Play with it like dough or form it into a momento bake it and keep for years
Materials
- 2 Cups of Flour
- 1 Cup Salt
- 1 Cup Cold Water
Tools
- Measuring Cup
- Bowl
- Cookie Sheet
Instructions
- Mix salt and flour together in a bowl
- Slowly mix in water a few tbls at a time until dough is smooth and easy to be handled
- Knead dough about 5-10 minutes
- Preheat oven to 250 if you are going to bake it. You can also just set it out in the sun but I find it stays better if you bake it.
- Form into desired shapes
- If doing a hand or foot print have them press down firmly to create indentation
- Arrange on cookie sheet
- Bake at 250 for 2-3 hrs or until hard. Or set in the sun for 6-10 hours
Notes
You can use food coloring to color the dough if wanted.
We opted to paint ours as that's what the kiddo wanted to do but that is optional also.
Have fun shaping it into forms. My kiddo used my rolling pin and loved it.