Salt Dough Leaf Critters {An Easy Fall Craft for Kids}
If you’re looking for a super easy and fun fall ornament craft, this is for you! Read on below to see how we made these little salt dough cuties!
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These darling salt dough leaves have officially become one of my favorite crafts – the kids couldn’t stop making them because they were having so much fun and it was so fun to see each little leaf critter come to life as they glittered them and added googly eyes and smiles. Ready to get started? Let’s go!
What You’ll Need
1 cup flour
½ cup salt
¾ cup water
Rolling pin
Cookie sheet
Paint brush
Glitter
White glue
Googly eyes
Straw and ribbon (optional)
Related: Orange volcanoes
What to Do
Begin by preheating the oven to 250 degrees.
Combine the salt and flour in a medium sized bowl. Slowly mix in the water (you may end up using either slightly less or more than ¾ cup). Once combined, and once the dough is less sticky, roll the dough out to desired thickness. To eliminate the dough from sticking to your work surface, spread wax paper out first and lightly dust with flour if needed.
For another fun craft idea, you may also enjoy this Step by Step Paper Mache from a fellow blogger.
Using the leaf cookie cutter, cut out several leaves. If desired, you could use a straw to make a hole in the leaf which can be later used to string ribbon through to hang.
Carefully place them on cookie sheet and bake for 30-60 minutes or longer (depending on thickness) until dry. Keep an eye on the oven as baking time may vary due to thickness of dough.
Once cool, paint your leaves. We used fall colors- yellow, orange, and red, but you could use any colors you’d like. While the paint is still wet, sprinkle on glitter, if desired. It is always fun to see what the little ones come up with- our little ones decided to make mouths on their leaves by using white glue and glitter and they came out so cute!
Related: Pumpkin playdough mats
Next, attach the googly eyes to the leaves with white glue.
Allow to dry and enjoy! You could hang your leaves with ribbon, pass them out to family members or friends, or attach one or two to a picture frame to spruce it up for fall.
Looking for more simple + fun activities? Be sure to check out our other creative ideas:
- Lego Duplo color sorting activity with washi tape
- Watercolor + fabric art
- DIY pinch pots
- Paper plate watermelon craft
- Color sorting activity with gonge riverstones
What else would you like to see from The Art Kit? Let us know in the comment section below.
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What is your favorite thing about fall? Let us know in the comment section below.
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