Have I mentioned that T and I have 6 nieces and nephews aged 10 and under? We do and they are my favorite chilluns ever. We hosted an afternoon of family and fun over Thanksgiving weekend and this project was awesome!
If you’re short on time (or the kids are short on patience), you can totally cut out the ornaments and bake them the night before and just let the kids decorate them.
Recipe for Dough Ornament Party:
drop cloth on floor (makes clean up SO easy!)
washable paints (I use Crayola)
glitter glue (less messy than glue + glitter)
ribbons and/or pipe cleaners
googly eyes or whatever else you think is fun
dough ornaments (recipe below)
paint brushes
cookies to eat
hot chocolate & marshmallows
Christmas movie (for watching/napping while paint dries)
spray fixative
Recipe for Dough Ornaments:
Mix together 1/2 cup salt and 1/2 cup warm water. Let salt dissolve a bit. Add 1 cup flour. Knead it all together for about ten minutes. You want to make sure it’s smooth and even and that there are no air pockets (I was lazy and didn’t knead long enough… mine had air pockets). If it’s too sticky, add a little more flour; if it’s too floury, add a little water. Natch.
Roll it out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick and then use cookie cutters to cut out the shapes you want. Now use a straw or toothpick or whatever to make a hole at the top (this will be for your ribbon).
Place the shapes on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (NOT wax paper!) and then bake at 200 degrees for 2 hours, flipping the ornaments over half way through.
(I turned the oven off after 2 hours and went to bed, but left the cookie sheet in the oven as it cooled to give it a little more time to dry out).
You want the ornaments to dry out completely, and some people have had to bake for 4 hours. I think it depends a lot on how thick your ornaments are.
Once the ornaments are cool, you can decorate them!
If you’re one of those perfectionists who drives other people crazy, you’ll probably prime them with a coat of white paint. If you’re a normal, busy person like me you’ll just leave them alone and let the kids have their fun without worrying about it.
After the ornaments are decorated, spray with fixative (esp if glitter was used) and allow to set. Loop ribbon/pipe cleaner/whatever through the hole and hang on your tree!
If you make some, please post on our facebook wall so we can see they turned out! Have fun!
