Playing with Salt Dough

Easy Salt Dough Recipe
1 cup flour
1/4 table salt

Whisk the flour and salt together until blended.
Add 1/4 cup warm water (just from the tap) and mix into the flour and salt.

You will almost certainly need more warm water.  This is the point at which you determine how stiff or how soft the dough should be.  Add water slowly until you get it to the right consistency for your child.

You can also add a coloring along with the water.  Food coloring, powdered drink mix, or even paint can be used.  Unless you are sure that the color will not stain hands or clothing, you should probably not let your child mix it in.

If your child is uncomfortable with the salt drying out her hands, rub a little bit of oil on her hands or spray them with a cooking oil spray.

The basic recipe makes enough for one child.  My kids tend to feel like there is not enough dough unless I double the recipe.  This is because they are almost always making creations to keep.  The leftover dough will keep in a sealed plastic bag in the fridge for at least a week. I’ve never had a batch go bad on me.  You may need to adjust the flour content.  Sometimes it gets sticky over time.  Also, if the dough has been refrigerated, let it set out for a few minutes so it can soften up before the kids play.

If you want to keep a salt dough creation, bake it in the oven at 150 or 200 degrees until it is completely hardened.  To prevent the creation from browning you can cover it with foil.

For even more fine motor practice, let your children decorate the baked creations using crayons, markers and paint.  Bring out all kinds of scraps such as buttons, beads, ribbon, cloth, foil raffia, even flowers or sticks or rocks from outside.  The process of squeezing and aiming a glue bottle builds hand strength, hand-eye coordination, and fine motor control.

Have a suggestion for another way to effectively use salt dough?  Leave me a comment!

Tags: creativity, early elementary, preschool