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Salt Dough Initials

October 4, 2011 by Anna Ranson

We LOVE using salt dough for making little models, taking prints from nature and for learning a little during all that play. Salt dough is one of the easiest things to make at home and requires only 3 very simple ingredients! 
Cakie has been extremely interested in learning to recognise her name lately and can spot a capital C a mile off when we are out and about in town! So we have been doing lots of playful learning about her very important first initial and I’m enjoying finding ways to keep it about hands on, multi-sensory learning and as far as possible from the dreaded worksheet mentality. 
So, we made some letters using salt dough for decoration and to hang up in their bedrooms. Pop needed one too, of course. She has to have the same in everything these days or else the bottom lip comes out!

 Easy peasy salt dough recipe:

  • 1 cup salt
  • 1 cup plain flour (all purpose)
  • Up to half a cup of water (add bit by bit until the right consistency)
Mix together until smooth. Knead into a stretchy dough. If it is too sticky then add more flour. Use it to make just about anything!
When the models are finished, lay them on some baking parchment (greaseproof paper) and cook on a very low heat for about 2 hours. About 100 degrees C (210 F) is enough. If the models are thick then they will need to be turned half way through and may need an extra hour. 

If you want them to hang up then don’t forget to stick a skewer through them before they go in the oven. I always forget!

When dry they can be painted and varnished and should last a long time, unless dropped!

 Learning links:

  • sensory: exploring a range of materials with the senses, comparing dry and liquid with squishy and then solid
  • knowledge & understanding (science): compare the various states of the materials from dry to wet to malleable to solid and discuss the changes
  • fine motor: knead, roll, shape, pinch the dough to strengthen hand muscles
  • creativity: use imagination to create models to represent objects and people from real life
  • literacy: begin to recognise some letters and sounds, be able to create/ represent some letters
  • maths: counting out cupfuls and spoonfuls, talk about capacity
Cakie: 37 months
Pop: 18 months

You might also like to try our salt dough footprint keepsakes! Perfect as a Christmas present for Grandma!

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Filed Under: Fine Motor Development, Letters, Literacy, Messy Play, Painting, Salt Dough, Sensory Tagged With: Early Literacy, Sensory Play

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Comments

  1. Rashmie @ MommyLabs says

    October 5, 2011 at 4:47 am

    These are so beautiful and encourage playful learning. We too had made such dough foot prints but we used chalk powder, flour and a little plaster of paris.

  2. SarahF says

    October 10, 2011 at 9:03 am

    pssst, that should be 2 cups flour 😉 just made this with 1:1:1 and far too liquid! x

    • Anonymous says

      February 20, 2013 at 9:03 am

      It’s not 1:1:1 it only requires 1/2 cup of water to 1 cup of each of salt and flour.

  3. Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

    October 10, 2011 at 1:39 pm

    Ah thanks Sarah! I did that from memory, which is definitely not reliable at the moment! 😉
    The recipe is actually 1 cup salt and 1 cup flour but the mistake I made was to say 1 cup water. It’s really just up to half.
    Glad you fixed it anyway!

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About The Imagination Tree Hello and welcome! I'm Anna, Mama of 4, early years teacher and play enthusiast from the UK! Click here to read more about me.

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