Kid Christmas Crafts

Hi guys,

Stella is having a little friend over to stay the night tonight. Whenever we have a sleepover, I always try to be prepared with some artsy thing for them to do together. It keeps them from making me crazy, and they have fun doing it :) Usually it's some paper craft, or painting, or making cookies and decorating them or something. Anyway, I thought we'd be festive tonight and do something Christmas-ish. I had wanted to do the cinnamon dough recipe (because I love cinnamon), but don't want to have to pay for ton of cinnamon (though now it occurs to me that I might be able to get it cheap at the dollar store). Anyway, I've settled on salt-dough ornaments. I think I'll make up a few batches ahead of time in a few different colors. I think this way the girls can get really creative without waiting for me to "get my act together" :)

All the recipes I've found seem to be as follows:

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
0.5 -1 cup water (depends on the consistency, humidity, etc.)

Mix it up, roll it out, have fun! :) They say it can be air dried over a few days, or dried more rapidly in the oven at 250-350 degrees, until it's hard/dry. I haven't done it myself yet, but there are a few tips that seemed very helpful:

*If the ornaments start to brown before they're done, cover with aluminum foil.
*Poke holes for a hanger with a staw rather than a toothpick.
*If you want this dough just for playing with (not baking/drying), then add a few tablespoons of vegetable oil to keep it from drying out
*Can be painted or stuff glued to it after it's dry.
*Or you can color it when it's in "dough" form with food coloring or tempera paint.

Another cool thing I found (and also have not tried yet) is "homemade glitter". This is good for me, as I'm broke! LOL

3 Tablespoons salt in a sealable baggie
2 drops (ish) of food coloring

Smoosh them together in the bag and then open the bag up to let it dry (approx. 1/2 day). Put it in a salt shaker, or let them pinch n sprinkle :)

I thought it might be helpful to others for me to post my research in one place for you guys to use. :) I'm off to make all this stuff now and will post pics when we're done! :)

Please post other cool holiday craft ideas for kids (or improvements on my suggestion) here! I'm excited to get Stella going on these things :)

Sarah