Salt Dough

I found the coolest book last week at the Paper Source in Bellevue. I often shop at this unique paper store for supplies for the invitations & wedding stuff that I do. Anyway, this book was just FILLED with great ideas for crafts & projects at home with kids. And it takes it a step above some of the cheap craft ideas that you can find in children's magazines & websites.

The first project we did this week was salt dough. It's like a playdough that hardens when you bake it. It was a perfect craft for BOTH my kids, since they are at different ages & abilities.

Now because it involved flour & water (which together make GLUE), I chose to do this project on the deck! SMART MOMMY I AM! The kids took turns adding ingredients.

Once it was mixed, I gave each kid a rolling pin and let them go at it. First lesson... "Keith, this is a rolling pin, NOT a baseball bat. Yes, it's wood, but it doesn't hit anything!" He got it!

We chose to use the dough to cut out letters. Several years back, my friend, Kimberly, from AZ gave me a Williams & Sonoma lunch box filled with the letters of the alphabet. They are a good size and super fun!

Chloe wanted to spell her name. Keith did a "K", and then also the letters of a friend's name L-U-C-Y as we are going to her birthday party this weekend and thought we could make her something special from scratch. Once they were cut out, we baked them & cooled them in the oven to harden. I put little holes in the top of each one before baking so we could string them with ribbon eventually.

Two days later, we sat down (Phil, Chloe & myself) and painted them. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon. So we sat out on the deck and painted together while Keith took a nap. This is what we ended up with!!