Easter Ornaments

I made first did this project with my second grade class and they came out awesome… unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures :/  I had them make a cross and stone, then we painted them with colors that represented different things.  (Black for sin, red for Jesus’ blood, white for our sins being washed away, pink for new life, etc.) 

I decided to make some ornaments with Em to give away as little Easter gifts to my family.

First I made a salt dough. 

• 1 c. flour
• 1 c. salt
• 1/2 c. water (or less)

Combine the salt and flour, then add water a little at a time until you get a dough consistency.  It shouldn’t be tacky.  If it is too wet, then just add more flour.  Kneed the dough, then roll out about 1/4 in thick and out your shapes.

Em had more fun cutting the left over dough pieces than she did the cookie cutters :)

Put the shapes on parchment paper and use a chopstick to make holes in the dough

Now you have a few options on drying them. 

1. You can let them air dry for about a week on a wire rack (for air flow)
2. You can bake them low and slow.  This can take several hours though.  This is what I did the first time…. and it worked really well… but took 3 hours.  oy.  that was a late night.  Try 225 and check every half hour.  This may be good in the winter when you have the added bonus of heating your house with the oven ;)
3. You can microwave them!  Start with 3 min, and then do increments of 20 seconds until they are done.  Even if they are still not totally hard, they do harden more as they cool.  This is what I did this time.  Great for impatient toddlers.  Doing it this way, your ornaments won’t stay as perfect, they may rise unevenly.  But that didn’t bother me for this project.

Then you are ready to paint!

You can thread your ribbon using a paper clip

You are done!  These are super cute with a little note or poem attached.