Salt Dough

Fun With Salt Dough

After the huge success of our playdough endeavours, I decided to make salt dough with the children. This is only a slightly different recipe, but it dries hard after about a week and then can be baked in the oven on a low temperature. After that, it can be painted, so making two activities in one.

I have to say though, that for the children, it was far more fun actually making the dough than shaping it into anything permanent! The sheer sensory pleasure of the whole experience completely took over. Yet another reminder to forget my own agenda and remember to listen to what the children really want to do!

They began by mixing the ingredients really nicely, taking turns to add water and stir…..

…but it was when I instructed them on the art of kneading the dough that the real fun began!

The four year old took the word ‘kneading’ literally…..meaning ‘with the knees’….and then they all got into the spirit of the new game and decided to do ‘feeting’ as well! (It was much easier than using a rolling pin.)

….and ‘heading’…..

I thought it best not to post any pictures of the ‘bottoming’ or ‘tummying’ that ensued, as they took their clothes off and began to roll around in the dough! suffice it to say, a good time was had by all.

AND they even managed to cut out some shapes as well! Here we have a couple of pregnant persons (one man, one woman) with attached foetuses, a butterfly, a ladybird cake, a cat, a moon, a planet and a Christmas star.

A week or two later, after it had all dried out and been baked in a slow oven for a bit, we had a free afternoon after a very active morning in the park, and needed a quiet time activity to chill out with. So I put a bit of Simon and Garfunkel on the stereo and we all painted the salt dough for an hour or so.