Prepare from salt dough. Salted dough for children for modeling, simple recipes, step-by-step photos

Greetings, dear parents, readers of our blog! Recently, old technology for development has been revived fine motor skills child - modeling from dough. And today I want to tell you more about salt dough for sculpting. You will find recipes with photos at the end of the article.

Modeling is a great opportunity to express yourself or relax for adults, as well as develop fine motor skills and imagination for children. Modeling with children is fun and interesting. The big advantage of modeling from salt dough is that it will cost you much less than other materials for children's creativity.

For modeling, you can use pottery clay, plasticine, and ordinary dough when making cookies or dumplings together. Children love to make and roll balls from such materials. Salt dough is used exclusively for creativity, because it is inedible.

Since ancient times salt dough has been used to make:

  • Charms;
  • Children's toys.

Now this type of creativity is becoming popular again; the dough can be used to make:

  • Decor items;
  • Figures, toys;
  • Paintings;
  • Baby's hand or foot prints.

It’s no secret that adults love to do this type of modeling, preferring salted dough to clay or plaster; they sculpt entire paintings that decorate the house or are given as gifts:

2. Why salt dough?

Many people are surprised to hear that the dough must be salted in order to make something out of it. The fact is that you can sculpt something from any dough, because it is always plastic, but not from any dough you can make crafts that will be stored for a very long time without losing their appearance.

The secret material - salt - cements the dough, so the products hold up after drying. The main ingredients of this test:

  1. Flour;
  2. Salt;
  3. Water.

In addition, you can add other components, depending on what you want to get. This can be glue, oil or paint and can be added to any recipe. But the main thing here is salt, which should be finely ground and without impurities (iodine).

3. Salt dough recipes

There can be many recipes, let's look at a few of them. You need to choose the simplest flour, without additives, and the water should be very cold.

3.1. Regular salt dough

Compound:

  • Wheat flour – 1 tbsp;
  • Salt – 1 tbsp.;
  • Water – 0.5 tbsp.

How to make modeling material from these ingredients?

  1. You need to mix flour and salt, then add water little by little, quickly mixing everything with your hands.
  2. You don’t need to knead the dough for long; if it turns out too tight, add a little more water.
  3. If the dough is sticky, add a little flour. It all depends on the flour, so sometimes more water may be needed, sometimes less.

3.2. Salted dough with rye flour

Compound:

  • Rye flour – 1 tbsp;
  • Wheat flour – 1 tbsp;
  • Water – 0.5 tbsp;
  • Salt – 1 tbsp.;
  • Oil – 1 tbsp.

Rye flour will give the product a soft brown, especially if you dry it in the oven. Rye flour alone is not used, as the dough will be very tight and difficult to mold into something. The oil will give the dough elasticity and will not stick to your hands.

3.3. Salt dough with glue

Compound:

  • Flour – 2 tbsp;
  • Salt – 1 tbsp.;
  • Dry wallpaper glue – 2 tbsp;
  • Oil or glycerin – 4 tbsp;
  • Water – 125 ml.
  1. First you need to combine flour and salt, then add glue diluted in water.
  2. Mix everything and add oil.
  3. If the mixture is sticky, add a little flour. In addition to wallpaper glue, PVA glue is used, this is done for the strength of the material.

How to make colored dough?

To tint the dough, you can add food coloring or natural juice, adding drop by drop and mixing with the finished mass. In addition, you can paint the finished craft after it has dried using art paints.

If you don’t want to prepare the dough yourself, you can buy a ready-made one - it’s inexpensive, you can immediately take a set of different colors and with molds. You can view prices and choose a ready-made set on this website. This is an excellent children's goods store with a huge assortment!

4. Crafts made from salt dough

As soon as the baby turns 1-1.5 years old, he can be introduced to the test as a way of play and development.

Another advantage of the test is that a child will not be poisoned if he tries it, and it does not smell like plasticine. This natural material is an excellent tool for making crafts. The dough can be stored in a bag in the refrigerator for several days.

A child of any age can use the salt dough modeling technique, gradually complicating the task. For beginners, sculpting small, simple figures is best.

The child can do the following:

  • Roll out the dough with a rolling pin;
  • Cut out figures from it using molds (from construction sets, cubes or cookie cutters);
  • Make sausages and balls;
  • Combine several elements into one figurine (attach buttons, sticks, beads to the figurine);
  • Make hand or foot prints on the rolled out dough;
  • Paint dried figures or crafts with paints (watercolors, a mixture of gouache with PVA glue, acrylic paint) - under adult supervision.

The child can stick different elements onto a thin layer of dough, creating pictures. Also, ready-made flat figures can then be glued onto canvas and inserted into a frame, resulting in a work of art.

5. Drying salt dough products

There are the following types of drying:

  1. in the air;
  2. in the oven;
  3. on battery;
  4. in the sun.

One way or another, the products need to be dried well. If the layer of dough is thin, it will take less time. Three-dimensional dough pictures or figures need a long drying time.

The surest and easiest way is to air dry, preferably in a warm place, but not under direct sun rays. For a product up to 1 cm thick, it will take 4-7 days. Then check by tapping the surface with your finger. If the sound is ringing, the product is dry; if it is dull, it needs to be dried further.

It will take about one day to dry on the radiator; in summer you can put the product on the windowsill.

When drying in the oven, you need to set low temperature(50-150 degrees) with the door open. It will take about 3 hours for a thin product.

After drying, the craft can be painted or varnished to protect the surface from damage and brittleness.

You can watch a video on how to easily and simply prepare salt dough here:

Develop together with your kids, sculpt and create for your own joy! Subscribe to updates and share the article with friends on social networks! And I'm waiting for you on our website again.

Are considered:
1) Material for creativity does not require financial investments, because most often the components necessary for its preparation are at hand.
2) Salt dough is easily washed off your hands and does not stain clothes or the surface used for modeling.
3) The mass does not stick to your hands during use, holds its shape perfectly and has high density.
4) You can dry the molded figures both in the open air and in the oven.
5) Both food coloring and standard coloring materials (gouache, acrylic paints, watercolor, etc.).
6) Coating finished products varnish significantly increases the length of time they retain their original attractiveness.

It is better to take the most ordinary flour for salt dough without all kinds of additives and impurities. For example, flour that is labeled “for pizza,” “pancake,” or “for pancakes” is completely unsuitable for preparing the material. Crafts made from such products can rise well when dried, and then even crack. Give up and rye flour– the dough from it will certainly turn out to be tough and inelastic, and it will be very difficult to sculpt from it.

Use regular fine table salt for the dough. Iodized and sea salt are not suitable - their large grains will not dissolve, and the dough will turn out to be uneven and speckled. As for water, it is better to use cold water, and you should not pour salt and flour with the entire volume of liquid at once; it is better to add water a little at a time and immediately knead the dough thoroughly.

To provide the modeling mass with certain properties during the preparation of salt dough, you can also use additional components. So, dry wallpaper glue will make future ones more durable, hand cream and vegetable oil will give the material plasticity, and food coloring will color the mass in the desired color.

Classic salt dough with minimum quantity ingredients - ideal. To prepare it, combine half a glass of fine salt and a slightly smaller amount of water at room temperature in a deep bowl. Stir the mixture thoroughly and set it aside for 25 minutes to infuse.

IN brine pour half a glass of flour, stir the mixture thoroughly with a fork, knife or whisk. Try to immediately break up any lumps that arise to obtain an elastic, homogeneous mass. If the dough turns out runny, add more flour. Make sure that the mass does not crumble or fall apart; knead it until it turns into dough. Check the readiness of the material with your finger. Leave its trace in the mass, and if the print does not “float” but holds its shape, the salt dough is ready for modeling.

To prepare a material that is more delicate in texture, different from traditional salted dough and has a lower density, you will need 2 water, 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, as well as 1 tablespoon each of vegetable oil and citric acid. This mass does not stick to your hands at all, is easy to process and does not require much effort when forming various figures, which is why it is considered an ideal material for children's creativity.

To prepare the choux pastry, pour the water into a small saucepan and heat it without bringing it to a boil. Add vegetable oil to the liquid. Combine the dry ingredients in a deep bowl, mix well and gradually pour hot water, stirring the mixture periodically with a fork or whisk. At first, the dough will seem very liquid to you, but over time the flour will brew and the mass will become denser. Knead the material until it turns into an elastic, viscous dough, ideal for forming a wide variety of figures.

If you add food coloring in powder, liquid or tablet form to the salt dough at the stage of mixing the ingredients, you can immediately obtain modeling material of a certain shade. To prepare colored salt dough in a deep bowl, combine 300 g of flour, 300 g of salt and 200 ml of water, knead a thick dough that does not stick to your hands.

Divide the mass into several parts, each of which will later acquire a certain shade. Make a small depression in each piece with your finger, add a few drops of water and dye into the hole, wait until the mixture is absorbed and knead the dough again. If the color mass dries out, add to it small quantity vegetable oil. Carry out the same procedure with all the remaining pieces. Place the colored material in plastic bags and put it in the refrigerator for several hours.

Turn the crafts over periodically to achieve maximum even drying;
- To prevent the figures from sticking to the baking sheet, place food foil on it.

All children, young and old, love to make various crafts with their own hands. For this purpose, you can use the traditional one, or you can replace it with an environmentally friendly plastic mass prepared independently. Modeling from dough is suitable for the little ones, because they try everything to their teeth, and it’s too early to give them purchased plasticine.

Children's play dough is completely harmless if it comes into contact with the baby's delicate skin and even if it gets into the mouth. After all, this recipe includes flour, water and salt - completely harmless products. The concentration of sodium chloride is so high that after trying a piece, the child will immediately lose interest in food and will use the plastic mass for its intended purpose.

Modeling from dough is very useful for the development of children. It is softer and more flexible compared to plasticine, and therefore the tactile sensations are also different. It’s great when working with plastic mass, which in turn has a positive effect on the development of speech skills and more coordinated brain function.

How to make play dough?

Making homemade mass is not at all difficult. The most important thing is to maintain the correct proportions. Before preparing play dough for children, you need to decide what recipe to use. After all, there are several different methods.

Recipe 1

  1. Flour - two parts.
  2. Salt - one part.
  3. Water – ¾ cup.

Dissolve the salt in cold water, then add the flour and knead into a stiff, elastic dough. When it is sticky, add a little flour; if it is too tight and crumbles, add liquid.

Recipe 2

  1. Salt – 1 glass.
  2. Flour – 2 cups.
  3. Vegetable oil– 1 tablespoon, or 50 grams of starch.
  4. Water - enough to make a soft but elastic dough.

Some people prefer oil, others prefer starch, but the meaning of their use is identical - these components give elasticity. Liquid should be added gradually in small portions.

Recipe 3

  1. Flour - one glass.
  2. Salt - half a tablespoon.
  3. Citric acid - two teaspoons.
  4. Water – half a glass or more.
  5. Vegetable oil - one tablespoon.
  6. Dyes.

The recipe for this modeling dough is for those who want to get bright figures. It is advisable to use food dyes, those used in the confectionery industry. An even safer method is to add natural ingredients like saffron, cocoa, instant coffee, greenery, paprika.

Now you know how to make play dough - it's not difficult! Do not forget that for this you need to take only Extra salt, and not stone salt, even sifted. It makes the dough not of the same quality at all and has a gray tint.

The big advantage of homemade plasticine is that it can be stored for a very long time in the refrigerator, tightly wrapped in cellophane. Before starting work, the modeling dough needs to be softened room temperature about half an hour. During the creative process, do not forget that the mass dries quickly and use small pieces and keep the rest in a bag.

Attention - salt dough will help in all this as well as possible. And preparing it is not at all difficult. For this we only need a little water, flour and salt.

Recipes for modeling salt dough

Homemade modeling mass

In principle, the recipes are very similar to each other. Main ingredients: flour, salt and water. The only differences are the following components: citric acid, cream of tartar and the presence of food coloring.

But among these recipes there are also those that are prepared no flour or water . The method of preparing homemade plasticine also differs: in the microwave, on the stove, or you just need to knead it with a spoon.

Homemade modeling mass can be stored in the refrigerator several weeks (in a closed bag or plastic container with lid).

To clearly demonstrate to you process of making molding mass(and also: DIY finger paints and colored grains), I recorded a video :)

If you want to receive the video by email, enter your coordinates in the form below - and I will try send you the video as soon as possible, and also – detailed step by step PDF instructions making all developmental materials with your own hands.

I have deep respect for all my readers, so your data will never be passed on to third parties and you will never receive spam, I guarantee.

So, fill in the information in the form and receive videos of preparing all educational materials today :):

Modeling mass No. 1

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup flour;
  • 1 glass cold water;
  • ½ cup salt;
  • 2 teaspoons cream of tartar;
  • food coloring for color;

Cooking method:

Mix flour with salt, gradually adding water. Add cream of tartar, oil and food coloring. Cook over medium heat until a ball forms. Knead the mixture well when it cools down.

Modeling massNo. 2 (cook on fire)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup flour;
  • 1/2 cup warm water;
  • 1/4 cup salt;
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil;
  • food coloring for color;

Cooking method:

Mix flour with salt and pour all ingredients into boiling water. Cook while stirring over low heat. Once the modeling mixture takes the shape of a ball, place it on a floured surface. When it cools down, knead until it does not stick to your fingers and becomes elastic.

Modeling mass No. 3 (knead in boiling water)

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour;
  • 2 cups boiling water;
  • ½ cup salt;
  • food coloring;
  • a few drops of glycerin (for shine);

Cooking method:

Mix flour with salt, cream of tartar and oil. Add to boiling water, stirring constantly. Next you need to add food coloring and glycerin. Knead well when the mixture has cooled down. It is necessary to reach a state where the stickiness disappears (add flour if necessary).

Modeling mass No. 4 (cook in the microwave)

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour;
  • 2 glasses of water;
  • 1 glass of salt;
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil;
  • 1 tablespoon cream of tartar;
  • food coloring;

Cooking method:

It is necessary to mix all the ingredients (first flour and salt, then add water, oil, cream of tartar and dyes) and pour the resulting mass into a baking dish. Close the mold with a lid and place in the microwave for 4-5 minutes (for average speed microwaves). Form the mass into a bun and knead it when it cools down.

Modeling massNo. 5 (cook without water)

Ingredients:

  • 300 grams of flour;
  • 325 grams of salt;
  • 2 tablespoons of wine vinegar;
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil;
  • food coloring;

Cooking method:


Salt dough

Flour must be mixed with salt and wine vinegar. Next, add vegetable oil and food coloring. Place the pan on low heat and stir until a thick mass forms. Let's cool our future mass for modeling and knead it well.

Modeling massNo. 6 (cook without flour)

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups baking soda;
  • 1 cup starch ;
  • 1/2 glass of water;
  • food coloring;

Cooking method:

Mix baking soda and starch. Add water in portions, stirring constantly. Cook over low heat until the dough forms a ball. Next, we cool and knead the mass for modeling.

Modeling massNo. 7 (with jelly)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup flour;
  • 1 glass of warm water;
  • 2 tablespoons salt;
  • 2 tablespoons cream of tartar;
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil;
  • approximately 100 grams of jelly;

Cooking method:

Mix all ingredients and place in a saucepan over medium heat until a ball forms. When the mass has cooled, it must be kneaded well. If it sticks to your hands, add flour.

Modeling massNo. 8 (with citric acid)

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour;
  • 2 cups boiling water;
  • ½ cup salt;
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil;
  • 2 tablespoons of citric acid;
  • 1 teaspoon glycerin;
  • food coloring;

Cooking method:

Mix flour, salt, citric acid thoroughly. Add vegetable oil to boiling water and pour into flour. Mix the dough. Knead until the modeling mass becomes smooth and pleasant to the touch.

Modeling mass No. 9 (plain, salty)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup flour;
  • 1 glass of cold water;
  • 2 cups salt;

Preparation:

Mix flour and salt, add water in portions, constantly stirring the dough. Knead the mixture thoroughly, first with a spoon, and then on a floured surface until a ball forms. If necessary, add flour so that the mass does not stick to your hands.

Modeling mass #10 (our favorite)

Our modeling mass

I like this recipe best because it is quite simple and does not contain products that are not always on hand (for example, cream of tartar or citric acid). The mass does not need to be boiled, which personally suits me very well :)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup flour;
  • 1/2 cup cold water;
  • 1/2 cup fine salt;
  • Food coloring;
  • Glycerol;

Preparation:

Mix salt with flour and add water in portions. Knead well. If the mass sticks to your hands, add a little flour, if it crumbles, add a little water. That's it. Very simple.

About food coloring , if you don’t have them at hand, they can easily be replaced with analogues. For example, green can be obtained by adding a few drops of brilliant green to the dough, brown - cocoa, red - cherry juice, purple - black currant, yellow - turmeric.

I did this, first kneaded the dough, and then divided it into pieces and added natural dye to each ( turmeric, blackcurrant and greens ).


Natural dyes

Food coloring can be added either at the very beginning of preparation to the dough itself, or later at the stage when the dough is ready.

I hope you find the modeling mixture recipes useful!

Have fun and happy creativity and sculpting!

All the best!

Sincerely,
Marina Kruchinskaya

I have already written several times about how important a baby is. Yes, I think you know this very well even without me. Therefore, today, without further ado, I want to talk about another exciting and very useful activity - about modeling with kids and how you can play if you have a piece of dough on hand. All these games are useful not only for the development of fine motor skills, but also for the development of the child’s imagination, thinking, and perseverance.

Often mothers ask the question: “What is better to choose for activities with the baby: dough or plasticine?” In my opinion, it would be better if you give your child the opportunity to get to know different substances and sensations, you will conduct classes with both dough and plasticine. But here for little ones (from 1 year old) it is better to use dough in modeling classes and here's why:

    The dough is much softer and more pliable than plasticine, and for babies who still find it difficult to knead plasticine, this is important.

    Considering the fact that many kids will want to taste the modeling mixture, the dough ( homemade) from this point of view, it is much safer, since its main components are flour, salt and water, and plasticine is still a combination of chemical components.

You can make the dough yourself, or you can buy it in a store (for example, Play Doh). But if you even once knead the dough at home, then, for sure, you will no longer want to deal with store-bought dough. Homemade dough is more flexible, softer, more pleasant, and there is also a lot of it! In addition, the process of preparing the dough is quite simple and does not take much time.

So how do you make play dough? I will give two dough recipes that I have tested several times and I really like. The first recipe can be called classic recipe salt dough. The dough is prepared very quickly and easily; it is often used to create durable crafts; after drying, it can be painted.

Salted play dough - classic recipe

1 cup flour

½ cup salt (preferably “extra”)

½ glass of water

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

Mix all ingredients and knead thoroughly until smooth.

Recipe for very flexible dough

And another recipe for a very, very soft, plastic, homogeneous and, I would even say, ideal dough! :) It is not suitable for drying and painting, but for fun games fits the dough perfectly.

1 cup flour

1 glass of water

¼ cup salt

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

2 tsp citric acid

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, stir, then place over medium heat. After this, we begin to actively stir the dough with a spoon until it forms a ball and stops sticking to your hands. You will need to stir for no more than 3 minutes. After the dough has cooled, you can start playing with it.

Don't neglect such a seemingly insignificant ingredient as citric acid! If you do not add it, then after storing in the refrigerator the dough will begin to stick to your hands.

You can add food coloring to any version of the dough. If you don't have dye to tint the dough, you can use beetroot or carrot juice, turmeric, brilliant green, gouache. Well, if you divide the dough into several parts and color them different colors, it will be even more interesting!

Both doughs can be stored in the refrigerator in a closed container for quite a long time (several weeks).

Games with dough

So, you have the dough, what to do with it next? First of all, of course, you need to introduce the baby to the test. Give him the opportunity to touch and knead him. You can make some kind of bun or bunny to show what the dough is capable of. If the acquaintance went well, you can move on to games.

Remember that the entire lesson should not last longer than 5-10 minutes. Do not try to include all the games in one lesson, watch your baby and always stop before he gets tired of the activity. If your baby is losing interest in a particular game, it may be too easy or too difficult for him. Try to simplify or make the task easier.

1. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin

The baby will most likely start rolling out the dough with pleasure, because he has seen his mother do it more than once. If your baby is having trouble using a rolling pin, help him by clasping his hands with yours.

Both a toy and a real kitchen rolling pin are suitable for the game. My daughter likes rolling with a large rolling pin even more.

2. Press various objects into the dough

Next, you can announce that the resulting flatbread is not just a flatbread, but a pizza or a cake that now needs to be decorated. And for this purpose you can use a variety of objects: matches, pasta, beans, counting sticks, small toys, lids, etc. Try to use objects of different shapes and sizes to diversify the child’s tactile sensations.

3. Create simple crafts based on pressing objects into dough

Let me give you a few examples:

  • Hedgehog

For the little ones, toothpicks can be replaced with matches or counting sticks.

  • little man

Be sure to involve your child in rolling out the torso and head. If your baby is not doing well yet, take his hands in yours and make rotational movements together.

4. Pinch off small pieces of dough and place them in a jar/bowl

This activity is very useful for the development of fine motor skills, as it trains the “pinch” grip. It’s quite simple to play around with the activity: invite your child to feed his favorite bear with candy. The game will most likely appeal to the youngest children - children about one year old. At this age, kids really like to tinker with small objects, fold and rearrange them.

5. Prick the dough with a fork.

Try sticking the same candies that you made for the bear onto a fork. You can tell your child that the bear prefers to eat only with a fork, but refuses to eat otherwise. So in the game we will quietly practice a very useful skill.

6. Cut with a knife

The main thing in this lesson is to teach the child to hold the knife correctly and, importantly, to independently hold the dough with his left hand (if the child is right-handed). A toy plastic knife, a special plastic dough knife, or a butter knife work well for the game. The activity will be interesting for babies from about 1 year 3 months.

7. Leave fingerprints on the dough

We press the toy into the dough, carefully remove it and ale-op, you get a beautiful pattern on the dough! Taisiya was simply delighted with this activity, and could get carried away for a long time, imprinting pasta on the dough.

Good for printing sorter figures, tube pasta, small toys, construction set parts, fork, comb . Well, if according to the test, a car passes by, leaving marks (preferably with large wheels and treads on them), then the baby will most likely appreciate it.

And, of course, it’s worth mentioning the cookie cutters separately. With their help you can not only make beautiful prints. With older kids, you can try removing the “extra” dough around the molds so that you get “cookies”.

Prints can also be made simply with your finger. After which it will be very interesting to “sow” seeds into the resulting holes. This will be another great exercise for developing a “pincer” grip.

8. Pass the dough through a garlic press

9. Put the dough into a mold - make a pie

You can use either muffin tins or clean tins from the shortbread set for this game. When putting the dough into the mold, we try to compact each piece thoroughly. Most likely, you will have to get the cake out of the mold with your mother’s help, because... this is not an easy task.

10. Hide surprises in the dough and find them

This is our favorite game. I think all children love it when there is a surprise moment. They are ready to open intricate locks, unscrew stubborn lids, just to see what is hidden behind them. Children are happy to find surprises, even if they hid them themselves!

Therefore, in this lesson, first, together with the baby, we hide the toy in the dough, placing it on one half of the cake and covering the other. Older kids can be asked to pinch the edges, as when sculpting a pie. Mom can do this for younger children. Well, then we ask ourselves the question “Where is our hedgehog?” or “Oh, who’s hiding here?” Perhaps during the first games the baby will have to be shown how to “get to” the toy. Most likely, the baby will catch everything very quickly and will subsequently eagerly pick apart the dough himself.

Even such a seemingly simple activity is incredibly useful for children’s fingers.

11. With mom’s help, sculpt sausages, koloboks and simple figures.

And of course, in addition to simple games, you can try to sculpt the simplest figures with your child - a bun, a sausage, a snail, a bunny, etc. I will definitely write in more detail about what can be sculpted with our young sculptors in a separate article in the near future. Don't miss it.

That's all for me, I wish you pleasant games together and more happy smiles on your baby's face! I will be very grateful if you share this article with your friends on social networks(there are special buttons for this at the bottom of the article).