Christmas is the exciting, warm, colorful, and definitely, comforting time of the year cherished by almost anyone.
Salt Dough is probably among the creative and exciting reminders of the most wonderful time of the year, Christmas.
Although this colorful battered mixture or concoction looks scrumptious enough to eat!
This amazing dough is inedible and is only meant for decorations or collaborative family events and activities.
Ideally prepared during Christmas to carve out beautiful hard-to-miss festive deers, mittens, Santas, and Christmas wreaths to hang over a Christmas Tree, Salt Dough can also be used to create non-festive ornaments and even jewelry.
Children love exploring things tangibly and often go on expeditions in search of new stimuli in their surrounding environment.
Playdough, Moon Sand, and Slimes among other moldable materials are a great way of facilitating sensory development in children.
Although compared to playdough which is made from a mixture of different chemicals, salt dough is made from non-toxic ingredients found in your pantry that do not risk the child’s health.
But Salt Dough creations are more than just festive ornaments and home decorations, it is an opportunity to bond with your child and allow them to expand their horizons.
Making salt dough for the first time can be quite perplexing especially when you don’t know where to begin.
To help you provide your child with a new sensorial experience and partake in a collaborative bonding activity, here is everything you should know about Salt Dough!
What is Salt Dough, Anyway?
Salt Dough, not to be confused with Salt ceramics, is a modeling material assimilating simple ingredients like salt, flour, and water.
This simple mixture of common ingredients can be whipped up in no time and is ideal for molding or shaping ornaments, jewelry, and even decorations.
Salt Dough creations can be molded into their final form, microwaved or baked to be dried, and sealed with varnish or polyurethane to increase their longevity.
To further beautify your creations you can paint them in your favorite colors with acrylic paints for a vibrant pop of color or stain them with food coloring for a subtle hue.
Salt Dough should be rigorously mixed in order to prevent the ornaments from cracking or crumbling.
Salt Dough can either be molded by hand or placed in fixtures and can require either simple or even complex tools.
An easy Salt Dough Recipe:
Salt Dough is fun, easy to whip up, and definitely exhilarating to play with especially, for children.
Making Salt Dough is a fairly easy process and requires three staple ingredients that can be easily spotted in your pantry.
To create your very own simple Salt dough Recipe you will need the following ingredients:
- 1 cup of Salt
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 cup of Water
You can also buy cheap store-bought all-purpose flour that will provide the same results as a budget-friendly alternative.
How to prepare salt dough at home:
Creating and preparing your very own salt dough or salt dough creations is fairly simple.
Follow these simple steps mentioned below to make your very own Salt Dough:
- Preheat the oven before preparing the mixture and place an oven tray with parchment paper lining.
- Combine the all-purpose flour with salt in a mixing bowl
- After combining the two ingredients begin to gradually water the dry mixture until the dough begins to form into a playdough consistency.
- Form the dough into a ball and knead the dough for about 5 to 7 minutes up until the dough appears to be firm and smooth. (You can add more water to moisten the dough if need be)
- If the dough is too sticky you can add more flour to balance the sticky texture of the dough.
- Once the dough is adequately prepared, you can transfer the dough to a surface covered with dry all-purpose flour.
- Roll out the salt dough with a rolling pin and cut out different shapes using cookie cutters or molds.
- The shape of your salt dough ornaments can be almost anything you would like them to be! From fruits, trees, flowers, or animals your salt dough can be molded into anything your imagination desires.
- Put your new, unique, and creative design on the baking tray and leave them in the oven for 3 hours until they completely harden.
- Lastly, paint the beautiful salt dough ornaments with any color of your choice.
Tips to remember before making your own Salt Dough:
- Simple designs are the key to your success.
- Using silicone sheets will help significantly when rolling out the salt dough
- To enhance your child’s play experience you can also incorporate ideas such as pretend cupcakes, Christmas-themed salt dough ornaments, tree-shaped ornaments, and even a family tree with named labels to have great fun family time.
Why should you introduce Salt Dough Activities to your child?
Making Salt Dough at home is a fun and exciting activity for both parents and children alike, which requires simple ingredients that can be easily found in your cupboards or pantries at home.
Children, especially for the initial six years of their lives, are curious and often rely on their senses to make sense of the world surrounding them.
Preparing your very own homemade salt dough and molding the mixture into beautiful decorations can be a fun way of incorporating valuable stimuli to promote sensorial stimulation and enhance their creative imagination.
Hands-on activities such as slime activities, salt dough activities, or moon sand activities are a great way of enhancing your child’s development process even on a budget.
Salt dough can also be incorporated into a child’s kitchen activity to help them develop fine motor skills, and gross motor skills, as well as develop essential kitchen skills.