When kids are bored on rainy days it can be difficult to find a craft project that keeps their attention for more than a few minutes. Making and decorating salt dough is a great rainy day activity to keep kids busy for hours when the weather is bad.
Keeps Kids Entertained With a Craft Project
Salt dough is a great rainy day activity because it is actually four activities in one, according to The Rainy Day Book by Jane Bull [Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2003]. Children of all ages will enjoy mixing the dough, creating shapes, watching the dough cook and decorating the final shapes. The ingredients are available in most kitchens or can be purchased in advance for less than $5. Other homemade doughs may use cream of tarter, which can be expensive if large amounts are needed, or gelatins that may not be on hand.
How to Make Salt Dough
The salt dough recipe is very easy and only uses four ingredients. To make salt dough, mix 3 cups of flour, 1 cup of water, 1 cup of salt and 2 teaspoons of oil in a large bowl. Have children squeeze the ingredients together until they are mixed. Add water by the teaspoon if the mix is too dry and continue to work until smooth. Pat the dough into a ball then use a rolling pin to flatten the dough. Salt dough is non-toxic and is safe, but disgusting, to eat.
Use Tools on Hand for This Craft for Kids
Salt dough can be made into any shapes or designs, but they are best when they are small and chunky so they bake quickly and aren’t easily broken. There are no special tools needed to make items from salt dough. Household objects, kitchen utensils, cookie cutters or Play-Doh tools can be used to mold, cut or decorate the salt dough creations. Kids can crush creations they don’t like and make them into something else. Extra dough can be wrapped in cellophane and saved for two weeks in the refrigerator.
Bake the Salt Dough Creations
When the kids have made creations they want to keep and have become bored with the salt dough, it is time to bake the salt dough. Place the creations on a baking tray or cookie sheet and bake for about 20 minutes on 350 degrees. Items that are bigger will take longer to cook. Feed the kids lunch while the shapes cool then move on to the next stage, decorating the salt dough creations.
Kids Love Painting Crafts
Decorating the salt dough is the final step of the process and can use items that are on hand. Toddlers may like to use markers to color their salt dough creations. Poster paint or acrylic paint also works well. Bull recommends adding one part white glue to two parts paint to make the paint shiny and tough. Buttons, sequins, pompons and feathers can all be glued on to the final creations.
Rainy days don’t have to mean bored children and frustrated adults. Salt dough is a great way to combine several activities in one craft project for kids. The craft can be adapted to kids of all ages and is a great way to encourage imaginative play. Other rainy day activities children may enjoy include making masks, creating a blanket fort and making a paper wall-hanging craft for the holidays.
Genna Cockerham - Genna Cockerham has been writing online since November 2008. She served as Marriage Feature Writer from December 2008 to February ...
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