3-Ingredient Salt Dough Recipe

This salt dough recipe is an easy homemade modeling dough for making crafts with your kids. Mix, shape, and bake for jewelry, ornaments, etc!

Make a batch of salt dough as the base for many fun activities! Salt dough can be used to make all kinds of crafts:

• pinch pots, jewelry bowls, and small dishes
• modeled figures (just like with play dough)
• beads and pendants for jewelry
• fossils – Press plastic dinosaur toys into the dough to create shapes.
• nature mosaics – Press shells, rocks, and textured leaves into the dough.
• handprint keepsakes

Mix up the dough with our simple 3-ingredient recipe below. Make simple shapes and bake them in the oven to dry. You can even paint your finished creations!

Salt dough tips

• This salt dough is NOT edible. It’s made with pantry ingredients, so it’s not toxic and a taste won’t hurt. But you shouldn’t eat raw flour or a large amount of salt.
• We baked the finished shapes to dry them quickly. You can also let them air dry, but it may take several days (up to a week for large objects) depending on the temperature and humidity of your home.
• Cooked salt dough should be hard but not brown. Overcooked salt dough will burn, but don’t panic. You can paint it after the baked dough has cooled completely.
• This salt dough will not rise, shrink, or change shape much while baking. Be sure that the edges are as smooth as possible and that you make holes (such as for stringing beads) before baking.

Salt dough tools

• rolling pin
• biscuit or cookie cutters
• plastic knife
• kids’ clay and play dough tool kit
• plastic straw
• toothpicks
• kids’ craft paint

How to make salt dough

You can scale this salt dough recipe to be much larger or smaller. Just keep the same 2:1:1 ratio. Store unused salt dough in an air-tight zip bag to make it last longer. Throw away old salt dough that smells or has an odd texture.

Supplies

• mixing bowl
• spatula
• measuring cup
• 2 cups all-purpose flour + extra for sprinkling
• 1 cup table salt
• 1 cup water

Instructions

1. Combine the dough ingredients.

In a mixing bowl combine the flour, salt, and water. Mix it until combined and knead any dry bits by hand if needed. Roll the dough into a ball and let it rest for 15 minutes.

2. Make dough crafts.

Sprinkle flour onto your work surface before rolling out the dough. Add more flour as needed to prevent the salt dough from sticking to hands, tools, and surfaces.

If you’re making cutouts, roll the dough about 0.25-inch thick. Use cookie cutters or other tools to cut shapes. For modeling crafts, try to create objects that are evenly thick so that they bake uniformly. If one part of the craft is very thick and another is thin, the thin part will burn before the thick part is completely dry.

3. Bake the salt dough.

When you have finished crafting, preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius). Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and bake for 45 to 60 minutes. The dough should be hard but not brown.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the salt dough creations cool for at least 30 minutes. For the best results, let your baked items rest for 24 hours before painting.

Printable instructions

Yield: 4 cups

Salt Dough

Print

This salt dough recipe is an easy homemade modeling dough for making crafts with your kids.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Active Time 30 minutes

Bake & Cool Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 10 minutes

Materials

• mixing bowl
• spatula
• measuring cup
• 2 cups all-purpose flour + extra for sprinkling
• 1 cup table salt
• 1 cup water

Instructions

1. Combine the dough ingredients.
   In a mixing bowl combine the flour, salt, and water. Mix it until combined and knead any dry bits by hand if needed. Roll the dough into a ball and let it rest for 15 minutes.
2. Make dough crafts.
   Sprinkle flour onto your work surface before rolling out the dough. Add more flour as needed to prevent the salt dough from sticking to hands, tools, and surfaces. If you're making cutouts, roll the dough about 0.25-inch thick. Use cookie cutters or other tools to cut shapes. For modeling crafts, try to create objects that are evenly thick so that they bake uniformly. If one part of the craft is very thick and another is thin, the thin part will burn before the thick part is completely dry.
3. Bake the salt dough.
   When you have finished crafting, preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius). Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and bake for 45 to 60 minutes. The dough should be hard but not brown. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the salt dough creations cool for at least 30 minutes. For the best result, let your items air dry for 24 hours before painting.

More fun ideas from Backyard Summer Camp:

• Easy Homemade Playdough Recipe
• 30 Favorite Art and Craft Supplies for Kids
• Colorful Salt Art Watercolor Painting