The nights are drawing in, the weather is cold and wet and your children are getting restless. If their DVD collection has been exhausted and suggestions of a board game are met with derision perhaps I can provide a solution.
Making salt dough decorations is an easy and low-cost activity that should keep the children entertained for at least a short while; the ingredients are probably already in your cupboards and you won’t even have to find the kitchen scales or turn on the oven.
You will need:
- Flour
- Water
- Salt
- A cup, for measuring
- Rolling pin
- Biscuit cutters
- Rubber stamps (optional)
- Drinking straws
- Cocktail sticks (optional)
- Food dye and/or paints
- Varnish
- Tray lined with paper towels
- Ribbon or cord
A basic dough needs only one part (half a cup) each of salt and water to two parts (a full cup) plain flour although you can replace some of the water with food dye to make a pre-coloured dough. Put the dry ingredients together in a bowl and gradually mix in the wet until you have a smooth pliable ball.
Because there are no dangerous chemicals in the dough, this craft is suitable even for quite young children. Also, you won’t need any special tools, but make sure to thoroughly wash your rolling pin and biscuit cutters when you are finished: Nobody wants salty shortbread.
Roll out the dough so that it is about 1cm or 1/2 an inch thick, you might need to dust your table with some extra flour to stop the dough sticking. At this point you can add detail to the surface with the stamps or draw freehand with a cocktail stick but plain cut out shapes are also attractive.
If you have made different colours of dough experiment with combining them; a red heart on a plain white star, for instance. As when working with clay, lightly score the surface of the pieces to be joined and use a drop of water to make them sticky.
Using the end of a straw, make a hole at the top of each decoration so that you can thread it on a length of ribbon or cord once it is dry; it may be best to do this before removing the cutter to avoid distorting the edge.
Now here’s the clever bit; salt dough is best dried out very gradually although you can do this by baking your pieces in a low oven it is easy to over-do it and end up with foul-smelling burnt decorations that will not be taking pride of place on your tree. An easier, if slightly longer, method is to carefully transfer your works of art to a large tray covered in paper towels and put the whole thing in an airing cupboard to dry out over the course of a week or so, turning the pieces over after about four days. If you have a spare cooling rack put them on this, rather than straight onto the tray, and both sides will dry at the same time.
When they are dry (gently tap the surface with a fingernail to check) the decorations are ready to be painted or simply varnished to seal them and once the coatings are dry you can add the ribbons just in time to hang on the tree or give as gifts to family members.
