Make nameplates and figures from salt dough

Salt dough is ideal for crafting with children. It is quick and easy to prepare, most people already have the ingredients at home, and it can be used to create endless shapes and things that the children can then stand up or hang up. Nameplates made from salt dough are also lovely, and the children can decorate them with their shapes and colors. Furthermore, salt dough can be used to make accessories for a play shop or supermarket. Animals to set up and play with are also fun, as are cut-out cookies that can be beautifully decorated; there really are no limits to the imagination here. But how do you actually make salt dough? Here is the recipe I used myself:

Salt dough recipe

For the salt dough you need:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup salt
• 8-10 tbsp water
• optional food coloring
• optional toothpicks

Knead the ingredients in a bowl or directly on the work surface into a smooth dough. If you want to color it beforehand, add food coloring now. However, this is not absolutely necessary, because you can also paint them very nicely afterward with watercolors. The works of art go into the oven at 150°C top and bottom heat for about 40 minutes.

Shaping salt dough

You can knead all kinds of shapes from the mixture. If you have them, you can also use cookie cutters and cut out shapes. It is great if you shape small fruit, vegetables, pretzels, or rolls for the play shop.

If you want to make animals, you can also shape them from the dough. Toothpicks are very useful to make sure the elements really hold together. For my giraffe, I cut the toothpick into small pieces with scissors. Insert the small toothpicks as connectors, for example into the neck and the belly, so the neck holds better. I also used a small piece of toothpick as a connector for the giraffe's four legs.

Instructions for the nameplate

For a nameplate first cut out a large shape (e.g., an oval, rectangle, heart, sun, etc.). You can then place various figures or shapes on this base element; it is best to fix them in place with toothpicks. Cut the toothpick into smaller pieces and push them in as connectors. Now you can also shape the letters for the child's name and place them on the base element. If the signs are to be hung up, it is very important to make a hole in them, which works very well with a pen.

Salt dough in the oven

Place the works of art on a baking tray lined with baking paper or foil and let them harden in the oven at 150°C top and bottom heat for about 40 minutes. Be careful, they must not turn brown.

Then let them cool thoroughly; I let the figures cool overnight as well.

Coloring the salt dough

After cooling, the salt dough shapes can be painted with watercolors and possibly coated with varnish varnished.

Our children enjoyed that very much. They painted all the figures beautifully; even our son had a lot of fun with it.

Also read: Children craft with PlayMais

Photos by Sabine, meinhaushalt.at