This is my first year making salt dough ornaments with the kids and I am totally loving how they are turning out! A few weeks ago, we did our salt dough ornaments with cookie cutter shapes and the kids are using them on their little Christmas tree in their bedroom. Then last week, they did some salt dough ornaments using their very own handprints. These are hanging on our larger family Christmas tree in the living room.
To make these, begin by using the recipe from our salt dough ornaments here. After making the dough, cut and roll out into two large circles or however many children you need prints for. The ingredients could always be doubled or lessened depending on how many children. Before baking, have the child or children print their hands on the dough. Don’t forget to punch a hole in the dough before baking to thread a string through later. Use a straw or any kind of object that will create a big enough hole for the width of string that will be used. When the dough has baked, hardened, and cooled, let the children paint them with their desired colors. Let dough dry. Then if using glitter, add some glue in the print section and sprinkle with glitter. When it is all dried out, thread and tie a string through the whole.
Variations: Instead of using glitter, the dough could simply be painted in two different colors, one for the handprint and another for the surrounding edges. Or maybe even just paint the handprint and leave the surrounding edges plain, or vice versa. Even more so, both the paint and the glitter could be skipped and the dough could be left just plain and natural. I think decorating the prints could be left up to the ones doing the decorating!
Note: I totally forgot to punch a hole in the dough before baking to thread the string. So I decided to create a hole with a hammer and a nail. The dough was so hard that it broke off at the top. I had to glue it together with tacky glue and then when it dried out and held together, paint the spot again to fix it. So glad I was able to fix it because our four year old was so disappointed that I ruined her stuff! (See the following image below how I fixed it. The paint is still slightly wet).
But then I did her sister’s own a little lower (closer to the print) using the same method and it did not break. So I decided to cover the entire hole (above photo) with paint and redo it in a lower spot. This time, it did not break when I used the hammer. I guess the first time, I hammered it way to close to the edge.
I wrote the kids names at the back of the ornament so we’ll remember which one belongs to who as they grow older. Also, I wrote in the year that we made these. As kids grow, their prints will get larger so they may have to make new ones again next time. They can even collect them throughout the years.
Here they are hanging on the tree. I think they are just lovely! The silver belongs to our soon to be two year old daughter and the gold belongs to our newly turned 4 year old daughter. In case you missed the post on what we did for her birthday, you can view it here.
If you have made these ornaments in the past, I would love to hear about your experience with them. Did you or your children collect them through the years? To see other Christmas crafts we have made both past and present, please visit our Seasonal/Winter page.
She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bead of idleness (Proverbs 31:27, KJV).
I just love homemade ornaments, especially those adorable hand prints. I made the cinnamon and applesauce ornaments a few years ago and they still smell so good. All of my kids’ ornaments are proudly displayed on the tree in our family room. And while I’m trimming the tree every year I relive those precious memories.
I like how their name and year are on the back. They will look back some day and place their much bigger hand against the smaller one and oh, the great memories and smiles! Precious!
I like the idea of making the cinnamon and applesauce one. I think I want to try it out next time!