Halloween Crafts
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These Halloween creatures take shape with an easy salt dough recipe and Halloween cookie cutters.
This is a great project to share with the kids - but if they simply can't wait for the dough to dry in the oven, you might also want to consider this alternate method to make Microwave Salt Dough Ornaments.
We also have a great salt dough tutorial if you are interested in learning more Salt Dough Tips and Techniques
Please note that the following salt dough recipe makes a lot of projects. If you only plan on making a few, cut the recipe into fourths or in half.
Salt Dough Halloween Creatures
Designed by Amanda Formaro
Halloween is a fun time of year filled with lots of traditional characters. Why not bake up some fun crafts to paint this Halloween season. Use them to decorate your house, yard, or party!
You will need
1 cup salt
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup water
acrylic paints: orange, yellow, brown, black, white, pink
paintbrush
cookie cutters: ghost, pumpkins, cat, bat
toothpick
What you do
Preheat oven to 250 F. Mix together, salt, flour, and water until a dough is formed. Knead the dough on a floured surface until the mixture is elastic and smooth. If dough is too sticky, sprinkle with flour, continue to do so until stickiness is gone. BE CAREFUL. Do not add too much flour, this will dry out the dough and will cause it to crack before you get a chance to bake it.
THIS DOUGH IS NOT EDIBLE, though it won't hurt you or your kids, it just won't taste very good!
Roll dough flat with a rolling pin, about 1/4" - 1/2" thick.
Use cookie cutters to cut out creatures.
Use toothpick to draw lines on pumpkins. Make individual pumpkins or layer then on top of each other for a pumpkin patch look (see photo). Be sure to do this step BEFORE baking.
NOTE: If you would like to poke hanger holes in the ornaments, do it now before baking. Do so by poking a toothpick into the spot where you want the hole, then move the toothpick in a circular motion widening the hole as you go.
Bake for approximately 2 - 2.5 hours. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. For best results, allow to cool and dry overnight, or for at least 4 hours.
Paint creatures with two coats of paint, allowing to dry in between coats. When dry, use the handle end of the paintbrush to dot on eyes for the ghost and the bat. Use small paintbrush or toothpick to paint on cat's eyes, nose, and whiskers as well as the bat's fangs.
Use brown paint to paint pumpkin stems, drag a little black paint over the top for effect if you like. Paint faces onto pumpkins (or use a black Sharpie marker to draw them on) and shade the sides of the pumpkins lightly with black paint.
Let dry.
About the Author:
Amanda Formaro is the entrepreneurial mother of four children. She is also the Chief Editor and Craft Expert of FamilyCorner.com Magazine.
your ideas are great! love it ♥♥♥♥♥!!!!!
there easy to make and easy to scare people! hahahahahaha:)
i like to recycle and make stuff out of recyclable stuff.
this was great for my class!!! they thought that we should do more crafts!!!!!!
i don't have a microwave or oven ..... i opted for air drying technique. but results aren't that fine........ they aren't hard.. any suggestions
Thanx
Well my first batch was bubbly. So I started to play with my microwave.
After many tries here is what I found worked best for me. I followed above recipe but added a plate. I placed a plate (bottom side) on top of the dough hoping it would help keep the dough from bubbling. And to my amazement the plate seemed to pull the water out of the dough. I was so blessed! It cut my cooking time in half and the salt dough did not bubble or burn. It was perfect.
So far it has worked everytime. I used a teflon mat (small) so I could roll it, cut it, and bake it all on one surface (I don't think you have to have the mat but it just made it easier.
Here is what I did:
1. Cook 3min on level 3
2. Open microwave wiped off water and fliped dough. (the dough will stick to the plate so just use a flat knife to pull it off or you can use wax paper for the first 3mins. BUT after the first round of cooking remove wax paper or the paper starts to stick to the dough, not to mention I don't want any fires :0)
3. Cook again 3min on level 3. Small ornaments should be done but medium to large ornaments will take a few more mins. Just keep checking every 1 to 2 mins until hard.
So far I keep getting really nice flat ornaments, and it is so much better then having to wait 2 hours on the oven. Thanks for the idea and recipe!
Sorry I posted this and I thought I was making a comment on the other salt dough recipe (from this site) for Christmas Ornaments using the microwave. The recipes are different so is you wanted to do the microwave type see microwave salt dough ornaments. Sorry for the confusion!
this was a great idea for my students!.. they loved it
it's great i love this ideal thank you
