Salt Dough

We love salt dough. It’s super versatile, really easy to make and safe to play with even for little ones - just try not to let them eat much! You can even get your kids to help to make it (although that can get messy)!

All you’ll need is:

• 1 cup (250g) plain flour

• 1/2 cup (125g) table salt

• 1/2 cup (125ml) water - you can add food colouring to the water if you want a coloured dough

Make it: Mix the dry ingredients together. Then add water and mix until it forms a ball. It will be less pliable than play dough, but still workable. Use it straight away, or wrap it in clingfilm or beeswax paper and it’ll last a few days.

Play with it: Roll it out and cut out shapes with cutters, or use it like clay to make figures or objects. My favourite salt dough creation is a little bowl with my daughter, Gracie’s, handprint in it. I rolled out a rough circle, which we then squished into the bottom of a Pyrex bowl to make a shallow dish shape. Then Gracie made her hand print. Easy! I kept it in the bowl to bake it so it kept it’s shape.

Bake it: set you oven as low as possible. If, like me, you have an oven that runs hot, you might find it best to heat it up, then switch it off when you put your creations in. You want to dry the dough out, rather than baking it. Leave them in until they are completely dry and hard.

Decorate it: paint, glitter, sequins, gems, or just a bit of PVA glue. Decorate your creations however you fancy. Regular poster paint works fine, but I like to mix it with a bit of glue so that it looks a bit shiny and is a bit more robust.

Enjoy!

Cornwall’s a bit damp, so if you find your shapes go a bit squishy, just pop them back in the oven. They’ll harden up again, so you can preserve your creations forever!