Looking for a fun holiday craft to do with students or your own children over the holiday break? Salt dough ornaments are a traditional holiday craft, but we've added a twist with our version! Check out the instructions below for how to make multicolored salt dough ornaments with powdered tempera paint.
Download our FREE printable below!
Required Materials:
- 2 Cups of Flour
- 1 Cup of Salt
- ½ Cup of Warm Water
- Mixing Bowl
- Styrofoam or Plastic Bowls
- Spoons
- Measuring Cups
- Baking Sheet
- Powdered Tempera Paint
- Rolling Pin
- Dough Cutters
- Coffee or Drinking Straws
- Modge Podge
- Pipe Cleaners
1Make the Dough
Add 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of salt into the mixing bowl, and then slowly add in ½ cup of water as you're mixing the ingredients.
2Add Some Color
Divide the mixture into 4 smaller bowls. Add a spoonful of powdered tempera paint into each bowl (we used red, green, blue, and purple). In each bowl, mix the dough and powdered tempera paint together. If your colored dough is too sticky, add additional flour until it's a more dough-like consistency.
3Create a Slab of Dough
Choose 2 colors of dough and knead them out into long ropes. Twist the two ropes together, and then swirl the dough to make a filled-in circle. Roll the dough out (be careful to not get it too thin). Repeat for other 2 colors.
4Cut Out Ornaments
Once the dough is rolled out, use dough cutters to cut out different shapes, such as a snowman, train, tree, star, heart, and bell. Transfer your ornaments onto a baking sheet, and use a coffee or drinking straw (depending on the size or your ornaments) to create a small hole to hang the ornaments with later.
5Bake the Ornaments
Bake the ornaments in the oven at 250° for 2 hours. Flip the ornaments over half way through baking. After they've cooled, you can seal them with Modge Podge (optional).
6Add Pipe Cleaners
Thread each ornament with a pipe cleaner, twist the ends of the pipe cleaner together to form a circle, and then hang the ornaments on the tree!
Share your salt dough ornaments with us on Facebook and Twitter! Be sure to check out the “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Activity” for another great way to use salt dough in the classroom.