Salt Dough Christmas Tree Ornaments

Rolling pin and cookie cutters with finished painted ornaments

Gather up all your little elves for this holiday craft. The kids can help at every step!

In addition to decorating your own tree, these Salt Dough Christmas Tree Ornaments make great gifts for teachers, grandparents, babysitters and neighbors.

Bonus: One-stop shopping! Everything needed for this project is available at your local Kroger store, saving precious time during the busy holiday season.

Things You'll Need:

  • 1 cup salt
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 cup water
  • Rolling pin
  • Cookie cutters in evergreen tree and star shapes
  • Drinking straw
  • Ungreased baking sheet
  • Paint brush
  • Acrylic paint
  • Bottle of washable school glue
  • Glitter
  • Thin ribbon

Directions:

  1. Combine 1 cup of salt with 1 cup of flour and gradually mix in up to 1 cup of water, until the mixture becomes dough-like.
  2. Knead the dough for a few minutes, until it is just slightly sticky.
  3. On a floured surface, with a rolling pin, roll out dough to ¼” thickness.
  4. Use cookie cutters to cut out Christmas tree and star shapes, then use a straw to poke a hole near the top of each.
  5. Transfer to an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 200°F up to 3 hours, or until dough is thoroughly hardened.
  6. Once they’ve cooled, the kids can paint their ornaments in any colors or designs they choose.
  7. After the paint dries, brush on a thin coat of glue and sprinkle on glitter.
  8. Once the glue has set, string a ribbon through each ornament hole and hang them up!

Tip: When carefully stored, the ornaments should last for several holiday seasons. To make them last even longer, an adult can apply a few coats of clear acrylic lacquer to them.