11.15.2011

Salt Dough

When I was a kid my mom made all our play dough.  I think she always did salt dough however.  I remember trying to eat it (and kind of liking it too.)  So salty and gross.  I also remember her baking some of our things at the end and making them into ornaments or broaches.  I thought my kids would enjoy this so we gave it a try.

We made the dough together. 3 cups flour, 1 cup salt, and 1 and 1/4 cup water mixed all together.
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After mixing a bit. kneed it like dough and add more water or flour if you don't think the consistency is right for you.  We added more flour.  I separated the dough and gave the kids a little wax paper to work on.

Salt Dough sculptures

Grace my 2.5 year old mostly played with it.  I put straws and plastic forks, knives as well as chopsticks on the table eventually and she used each tool in lots of ways.  Toddlers like to just explore their materials in a variety of ways.

Salt Dough sculptures

Ally, my 7 year old, had grand schemes to make a dog, but quickly got frustrated.  She was expecting it to be like clay that we have worked with before.  This is much softer and harder to sculpt with.  She soon gave up and made a bird's nest that was far too thick to ever get completely dry. With this it is best to not do too large of sculptures because it doesn't always dry all the way.

Salt Dough sculptures

I have always thought of my little 5 year old, James, as the artist of the family.  He is obsessed with the ipod and angry birds. He made all the different angry birds.

Salt Dough sculptures

He was my fastest worker and was done very quickly.  I loved all his birds.

Salt Dough sculptures

In the end we all made a bunch of things.  I made a little tea set for Grace and a turkey. Ally made a birds nest, bird and eggs, and James made some plants and zombies in addition to his angry birds.

Salt Dough sculptures

We were planing on putting these in an oven set at 200 degrees until hard, but my husband was making bread all day and then when we went to do it Grace had gotten to the sculptures and most were falling apart.  The kids were upset, but I am excited to do it all over again on another day!  If you do this at home be sure to dry them and then let the kids paint.  It can be a nice keepsake or gift for others.


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9 comments:

  1. These look so cute, Laura. Thank you for reminding about baking them. We usually forget to bake ours...
    Going to have Pari try some playdough ornaments soon :)

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  2. Love those little Angry Birds!

    If you do try this again you could add a tbsp of vegetable oil to make your dough more elastic or a tbsp lemon juice to make your end product harder. Also, we put ours in the airing cupboard to dry out if the oven isn't an option!

    Blue Skies,
    Charlotte xo

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  3. Nice! And I like that there's no stove-top stirring...

    Love the birds.

    Go well, grace

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  4. Salty dough is absolutely also favorite here in this house!
    Lovely post dear friend. Angelique

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  5. cute! we love salt dough too- a staple favourite!

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  6. I have yet o use salt dough & the more I see everyone having so much with it - the more I want to do it!!! Love the angry birds, how funny!

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  7. I can't express how much I love love love salt dough! I love all of your family's creations. I'm seriously impressed by those birds!

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  8. aakk! we got snow today. was so excited to make these! not enough salt. i'll have to let you know when we make these! they look like soooo much fun!

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  9. we finally made these! just wanted to let you know i will be posting about this on the 21st. i am citing your blog as my inspiration. i have 2 links. one to the blog and one to the post. let me know if that's ok?

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