Salt Dough Shamrocks & Pots O' Gold

We had a fun craft day at our house today....building up to all the St. Paddy's Day fun tomorrow. Nathan and I made some salt dough.

Then we rolled it out and used cookie cutters to make pots and shamrocks.

When we were done cutting them out. I used an awl to poke a hole through some of them, so that we can string them up for decoration. I also left some without holes, so that we can glue a magnet onto the back (for fridge magnets).

Nathan played with the rest of the dough, while I heated the cut outs in the oven to help them dry faster.

I put some green, black and yellow (acrylic) paint in an empty egg carton, got out three brushes and let Nicholas and Nathan paint them.

Nathan modeling his apron

Later (after I run to the craft store for string and magnets), we will hang them up and give some of the magnets away to friends. The boys had a blast and their art work turned out great. Can't wait to see the finished results.....

Salt Dough Recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup salt

3/4 cup water

You can also add food coloring to it for different colors, but since we were painting them, I opted not to add the coloring.

Mix together salt, flour and water in a large mixing bowl.  Knead in food coloring (optional).  Continue kneading until the mixture reaches a doughy consistency.  Use immediately or store in a airtight container.  If you want it to dry faster, place the shapes on a cookie tray and bake in a 350* oven for about 20 mins.  When they cool, you can start painting.