Saturday, February 17, 2024

Salt Dough Easter Eggs (DIY Ornaments)

Make salt dough easter eggs with this simple recipe.

Painting them makes a fun Easter activity for the whole family. 

I found a branch out in the yard and we hung the eggs from it to make our own little Easter tree.

It would also be fun to create a easter egg garland with them. 



Salt Dough Easter Eggs


SALT DOUGH EASTER EGGS (DIY ORNAMENTS)

Salt dough crafts are a lot of fun and a good way to engage kids. You can make salt dough handprints, or even pawprints. 

Or you can make seasonal crafts with salt dough like these gingerbread man salt dough ornaments.

Once they're baked you can let your creativity shine by painting or embellishing them.

Note: This was originally published April 17, 2014. I have updated with clearer instructions.

Salt Dough Easter Egg Tree

SUPPLIES NEEDED FOR SALT DOUGH ORNAMENTS

These are the supplies needed, the recipe is at the end of the post.
  • flour
  • salt
  • water
  • paint
  • ribbon or twine
  • clear coat sealer, optional
  • easter egg cookie cutter (or other easter themed shapes)

Paint

I used acrylic paint. But you could also use paint pens, or even markers!

Sealer

A clear coat sealer is just something to help protect the paint. I didn't coat mine and they have lasted a long time without damage. 

But if you want to protect them try mod podge, or clear spray paint, or a clear glaze spray.

Salt Dough Easter Eggs

HOW TO MAKE SALT DOUGH EASTER EGG ORNAMENTS

To begin, make the salt dough. Add 2 cups of flour and one cup of salt to a large bowl. (A kitchen aid works great for this!)

Add in 1/2 cup of water and mix. Gradually add in more water until dough forms a ball. You may not need all of the water. 

Roll out the dough using a rolling pin. I like the dough thickness to be about 1/4 inch. Then cut out your easter egg shapes.

There are a few ways to do this. You could cut out an oval shape with a butter knife. But the easiest way is to use an egg-shaped cookie cutter.

Make sure to cut out a small hole at the top of each egg so you can hang the ornament!

You can do this with a straw. You could even use a wooden skewer or a toothpick - just wiggle it around a bit to make sure the hole is large enough for your ribbon to go through.

Your leftover dough can be squished back together and rolled out again to make more ornaments.

Prepare a baking sheet by either spraying with cooking spray, or lining with parchment paper.

Next bake at 250 for about 2 hours. Check after 1 hour and every 15 minutes after that. The length of time needed to bake depends on the thickness of your dough.

Tip: You can also use other easter themed cookie cutters like bunnies, carrots or chicks.



PAINTING SALT DOUGH EASTER ORNAMENTS

We used acrylic paint. But experiment with different types of paints or other mediums. Paint pens would be a great way to create details.

You could even try water color paints.

To help curb messes with little ones, you could even use washable markers.


Salt Dough Easter Eggs

 These are all of the eggs we did.

You can see we have all ranges of artistic ability and creativity. And let me tell you - I am not at the top of the list. I can do polka dots and stripes and that is the limit of my artistic ability. 

My oldest loves to draw and she's quite good at it. So she loved this craft.  

My youngest two just like to paint, with not much thought of the outcome - which is how it should be for kids.

My son is some where in the middle.

(Ten years has passed since we did this activity. It's so fun to think back about it and see how much they've grown.)

Salt Dough Easter Egg Tree
Once the paint is dry, just cut a piece of ribbon or twine and thread it through the hole and hang. 

MORE EASTER CRAFTS & ACTIVITIES


I hope you all have a great Easter!

painted salt dough easter eggs with text overlay

5 comments :

  1. I've done spring salt dough flowers with the kids before, so I know this is a fun activity. Thanks for sharing on MM. Pinned.

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  2. I really like salt dough, so fun to play with. Thanks for linking up with Creatively Crafty Easter Party.

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  3. So creative and cute! What an adorable tree!

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  4. How fun! I love salt dough projects. This would be such a fun decoration to make and pull out each year.

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