Five Years of Salt Dough Ornaments

Salt Dough Ornament

 

Last year was the very last year we made salt dough ornaments.  We have enough now to substantially cover our tree and several hefty garlands.  Little Stinky was finally old enough to add several original pieces of his own last year, so we're retiring that tradition.  However, we've had so much fun with it over the years that I thought I'd share a little bit about it.

Salt dough ornaments are such a great Christmas craft for young kids, and with a little extra love, they can look beautiful on your tree and last for many years.  They make sweet home made gifts for your children to give, too! 

I've seen many varieties of salt dough ornaments, from the "cookie" with a pom-pom mouse that hung on our tree when I was a child to some very posh-looking, stamped, natural finish ornaments that I've pinned on Pinterest.  The version hanging on our tree now is the product of my own brainstorm on how to make an ornament that a 2 year old could paint that would actually look nice.

 

The salt dough itself is actually the easy part, and I recommend it over some of the other doughs suggested for ornaments.  We tried the baking soda and cornstarch dough once, but I was disappointed to discover that it breaks very easily and is water soluble!  That shouldn't be a problem on a Christmas tree, but with kids, you never really know! 

Once you've cut, pierced, and baked your ornaments, it's time to get serious.

I've found that the best way to get really NICE looking ornaments is to give them a "primer" coat of white acrylic paint prior to letting the kids at them. 

This gives them a smoother surface for painting and makes your paint colors appear brighter because they're not being absorbed into the baked ornaments, and even where you can see through them or the kids miss a spot, they look "finished".

Obviously kids LOVE the painting part.  This is one project I allow them to use acrylic paint on.  I just make sure they all put on one of their Daddy's "paint shirts" before they get started because they will invariably end up wearing at least a little of it, and acrylic paint is a nightmare to remove when wet.  You can totally forget it if it's allowed to dry.

It's messy and some of it takes a while to dry, but it manages to come out looking really neat.

 

(Here are some flash-back pics from three years ago!)

The 2 to 4 year old crowd really makes the best ornaments because they aren't trying too hard yet.  I usually give the kids three related colors on a plate and let them at it.  We change out the colors every second ornament or so, so they don't get bored and you can have a variety of colors. 

Once the kids are burned out on painting, you get to pick up and finish off these one-of-a-kind little masterpieces.  It's really a good idea to wait until they're in bed!

Most kids only manage to get the very front of the ornament covered, which is OK.  Grab their paintbrush and use their leftover paint to paint the edges and the back.  I tried to leave their original artwork completely alone.  You'll probably be surprised at how pretty the random paint swirls actually look.  I still wonder at and adore how unique each one is!

When they're dry, I paint the child's name and the year on the back (because I'm sentimental like that!).  Then coat the front with an iridescent or gold glitter paint.  Gold is my fav of the two.  It seems to add a more polished (if such a word can be used to describe a children's craft!) look.

When all the paint has dried completely, take the little beauties outside and give them several coats of clear, high-gloss sealer. 

Then you should have some pretty fantastic, cheap ornaments that will actually last really well.  I store ours in large cookie tins with plenty of padding.  Our oldest ones have survived five years and still look great!  Happy Family Christmas Crafting!