Salt Dough Ornament Fun!

Aaah the holiday season! One of my favorite times of the year. I love all the holiday drinks at Starbucks, Christmas music, the smell of cinnamon and pine, the twinkling of lights on the tree. This is the first year in a long time that I don't have a class of little ones who are bouncing around the classroom, barely able to sit through one story or math lesson. While I don't have a class to make cinnamon dough ornaments with, I do have my own precious little one! I thought it would be fun to make some handprint ornaments for the grandparents. So, a few girl friends and I got together with our little ones and attempted to make some ornaments - ha! Have I mentioned that all our little ones are younger than 6 months?! It took several times but we finally got some good ones. It was quite an experience! We decided that cinnamon dough was probably not the best idea since they have their hands in their mouths constantly these days, and we didn't want any lingering cinnamon to burn their little tongues. One of my friends, who also used to make ornaments with her class, suggested a salt dough that she has used in the past. It is quick and easy to make and produces a wonderfully smooth dough for little hands. 

The original recipe comes from Olive Juice Mama. It's a great blog!

2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
3/4 cup warm water

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl until a ball forms. Sprinkle a little flour on the counter to knead the dough on. While you don't technically have to knead it for 10 minutes, it makes the dough wonderfully smooth if you do and bakes up much nicer :) Plus, it's good exercise so go for it! Once the dough is kneaded, roll it out to about 1/2" thick. I was able to make 6 handprints (my little guy is 4.5 months old). I made 5 and then had to re-roll out the dough for the 6th. 

Bake at 200 for 3 hours, then flip them upside down and bake for another hour. I baked mine in the toaster oven to save a little money on electricity :) Once they were cool I painted them with acrylic paint, used a marker to write my little one's name and the year, and  added some ribbon. Gifts for the grandparents complete!