Play-Time! Salt Dough Ornaments

Playdough is great. It's one of my favourite things to do with the littles. Hours and hours of fun, and, better yet, once you're finished you can roll it back up, pop it in a plastic bag and keep it in the fridge for another day. Cost Per Use = $0.01! Approximately. (I'm thrifty, not tight. OK?)But I recently tried out salt dough, and it comes a pretty close second. It's not reuseable, and it dries out after half an hour or so, but this dough is great for moulding, rolling, cutting and then baking. It forms up hard and fairly tough, which makes it great for making Christmas tree decorations or other knick-knacks.

You'll need:

1/2 cup salt1/2 cup water1 cup plain flourtoothpick

glitter, or other fun additionscookie cutterspaintsstring

1. Combine the top three ingredients in a bowl and knead until really well combined.

2. Turn out and roll flat with a rolling pin.

3. Cut to shape using the cookie cutters or mold into letters. ("Merry Christmas" would look really sweet strung up over a doorway). Be sure to work fairly quickly as this dough tends to go crunchy after about half an hour.

4. Sprinkle with glitter or other bits and pieces. Poke a hole in the top using the toothpick.

5. Bake in a moderate oven for a couple of hours, flipping occasionally, or leave outside to air dry for a couple of days.

6. Once dry, you can paint them, string them together to make a garland, tie a length of string at the top to hang from the Christmas tree etc.

Simple and fun. And depending on the age of your kiddos, you may get half an hour's worth of housework done while they play. Or not!!