Making Ornaments with Kids: II

We are on round two of kid (and mama) friendly Christmas ornaments. I have been searching for a salt dough recipe that produced a smoother dough for a while. Turns out it all in the mixing. This dough was easy to make and easy for my stepson to work with. We made some adorable ornaments for his tree.

Salt Dough Ornaments

• We started by clearing off the kitchen table to give Mathew a big open space to work in. There will be flour everywhere, so make sure you move anything important a safe distance away. Then I measured out the ingredients and Mathew poured and mixed.

       2 cups of flour

       1 cup of salt
       1 cup of water

       Mix together until well incorporated and then knead for 5 min or until smooth. 

       Bake at 250 degrees for two hours, flipping them over half way through.

• I did the kneading and the rolling for him, making sure that there is plenty of flour down on the surface you are working on, on your hands and on your rolling pin. It is sticky to start, but the flour will help keep the dough from sticking to everything.

• Then he picked out plenty of different cookie cutter shapes to work with and went to town. As he cut them out, I carefully transferred them to a baking sheet to move them out of his way. They have enough flour coating them by this point, you do not need to worry about them sticking. 

• Lastly make sure to poke a hole through the top of the ornament, so that you have somewhere to put ribbon or string for hanging. I used a skewer stick, but you could also use a pencil or a straw. Bake at 250 Degrees for 2 hours, making sure to flip them over half way through. 

These turned out beautifully and Mathew had a fantastic time making them. This recipe could easily be made "grown-up" by simplifying the shapes and adding decorative texture with stamps, or imprints such as lace. So many options, stay creative!