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Salt Dough Halloween Creatures

by Amanda Formaro

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Halloween is a fun time of year filled with lots of traditional characters. Why not bake up some fun crafts to paint this Halloween season. Use them to decorate your house, yard, or party!

You will need

1 cup salt
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup water
acrylic paints: orange, yellow, brown, black, white, pink
paintbrush
cookie cutters: ghost, pumpkins, cat, bat
toothpick

IMPORTANT NOTE: This recipe for salt dough makes a lot of projects. If you only plan on making a few, cut this recipe into fourths or in half.

What you do

Preheat oven to 250 F. Mix together, salt, flour, and water until a dough is formed. Knead the dough on a floured surface until the mixture is elastic and smooth. If dough is too sticky, sprinkle with flour, continue to do so until stickiness is gone. BE CAREFUL. Do not add too much flour, this will dry out the dough and will cause it to crack before you get a chance to bake it.

THIS DOUGH IS NOT EDIBLE, though it won't hurt you or your kids, it just won't taste very good!

Roll dough flat with a rolling pin, about 1/4" - 1/2" thick.

Use cookie cutters to cut out creatures.

Use toothpick to draw lines on pumpkins. Make individual pumpkins or layer then on top of each other for a pumpkin patch look (see photo). Be sure to do this step BEFORE baking.

NOTE: If you would like to poke hanger holes in the ornaments, do it now before baking. Do so by poking a toothpick into the spot where you want the hole, then move the toothpick in a circular motion widening the hole as you go.

Bake for approximately 2 - 2.5 hours. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. For best results, allow to cool and dry overnight, or for at least 4 hours.

Paint creatures with two coats of paint, allowing to dry in between coats. When dry, use the handle end of the paint brush to dot on eyes for the ghost and the bat. Use small paintbrush or toothpick to paint on cat's eyes, nose, and whiskers as well as the bat's fangs.

Use brown paint to paint pumpkin stems, drag a little black paint over the top for effect if you like. Paint faces onto pumpkins (or use a black Sharpie marker to draw them on) and shade the sides of the pumpkins lightly with black paint.

Let dry.

About the Author:
Amanda Formaro is the entrepreneurial mother of four children. She is also the owner of FamilyCorner.com Magazine at www.familycorner.com.

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