DIY New Year's crafts made from dough: Simple and fun leisure activities (145+Photos). All the secrets for an exciting and successful job

Salt dough modeling: simple tips for beginners

You can look at the photos as much as you like and admire the crafts made from salt dough, but it’s better to try making them yourself. In order for the first attempt to be successful and leave behind pleasant impressions and memories, you need to pay close attention to the instructions for making the working substance.

How to prepare the dough?

This working material for modeling is based on three products: flour, water and fine salt. There are variable recipes that include, in addition to the three main ingredients, starch and hand cream. Some people use a recipe with wallpaper glue. It makes sense to start getting acquainted with such material by starting with the basic recipe, but if you have experience in modeling, then it makes sense to use recipes with cream or vegetable oil. This is especially true if the product involves many small parts.

For large and large-scale parts, starch is indispensable in the dough composition

High-grade flour contains a sufficient amount of gluten, and fine salt of a brand like “Extra” will allow the products to achieve the desired smoothness.

Standard recipe:

• a glass of flour;
• a glass of salt;
• 125 ml water.

Different craftswomen insist on different proportions. It is suggested to take two parts of flour, and one part of salt and water. More salt will add strength to the product.

We focus on tactile sensations: add flour to a liquid substance, and add water to a crumbly one.

Mix all ingredients by hand or with a mixer until smooth. To test, tear off a piece and roll it into a ball. Make holes in the ball with your finger: the ideal dough will retain its shape and will not spread.

Advice! If you add a little vegetable oil or hand cream when mixing the ingredients, the dough will not dry out during modeling and will not stick to your hands excessively.

Coloring is done either after drying the finished product, or the dough is colored.

How to paint the working material? Gouache, liquid watercolor, food coloring, cocoa, beets, carrot juice, cherry and spinach juice.

What crafts can you make and how to save leftover dough?

There are many ways to use this material for modeling. This includes working with children to develop fine motor skills and imagination, apartment decor, holiday decorations, figurines, photo frames, and toy gifts.

The figures are made flat or three-dimensional, using a base or not. In general, the work is not very different from modeling from plasticine, but products made from salted material can be stored indefinitely.

We store the remaining dough in the refrigerator, remembering to tightly wrap the substance in cling film or place it in a plastic container with a lid.

Advice! The dough will be stored longer if you add a packet of citric acid per two cups of flour.

Material without citric acid is stored in the cold for 2-3 days, with acid - up to two weeks.

How to dry and paint products

There are several drying options.

1. We leave the products to dry at room temperature. The process is very long.
2. Drying crafts on a heating radiator is somewhat faster.
3. Products are dried in the oven for a shorter period of time, and the heating temperature is varied. First, the crafts are dried in the oven at 50°C, then slightly browned at 150°C.

To make the product shine, it is varnished or glazed. Glazing is used for crafts in white, and colored items are varnished. They also use the method of coating with an aqueous solution of salt and drying in the oven at low temperatures. Coating the finished product with egg white or yolk gives a nice golden brown hue.

If you take 1 part salt and 2 parts water, you can cover the craft with this solution and dry it for an hour at a temperature of 150°C. After this time, the craft is taken out again and covered with salt solution a second time.

If you want the item to remain white, it is glazed and dried at a temperature of 50°C until completely cooked.

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Salt dough recipe

You will need:

• 1 part fine table salt;
• 1 part white table flour;
• 1/3 part potato starch;
• water for kneading.

All dry ingredients need to be mixed in a bowl and knead the mass, gradually pouring water. The mass should have a pleasant consistency - not stick to your hands, and not be too tight (do not break or crumble).

After the salt dough is ready, decide when you will paint the products. You can paint the mass immediately, or you can paint the toys after baking.

Tips for making crafts from salt dough for the New Year

Let's try to make crafts that will give you a good mood! There are several types of products that can be made using the sculpting method: we use layering of parts, we make three-dimensional products and we include small parts in the work. The use of molds is encouraged in the work - convenient plastic or metal molds (you can take ready-made molds for baking cookies, buy them or make them yourself from an aluminum can), any textured surfaces, toothpicks, a plastic knife for plasticine, caps from felt-tip pens, tree leaves.

Bulk crafts made from salt dough take the longest to dry and, if the substance is insufficiently strong and there is no core base, they can spread out during the first stages of drying.

A cookie cutter can easily help you make flat shapes

The texture depends on the imagination: a simple napkin becomes a chic template

Manicure accessories do not have to be used for their intended purpose! The pins of hedgehogs are made with similar pinches of scissors.

How to make curls? Either roll thin sausages by hand, or use a garlic press!

Christmas tree toys “Hearts” made of puff pastry

For a festive tree for the New Year 2021, it is not necessary to buy toys in the store, because handmade crafts from puff pastry or salted dough will also look great. Moreover, independent creativity is always doubly pleasant. There are no specific instructions required here, it is important to use some recommendations and you will get beautiful decorations.

To do this you will need:

• puff pastry;
• materials for creating prints: hearts or other types of shapes;
• beads;
• ropes or ribbons.

Progress:

1. You can create jewelry with your own hands using a method such as a print. To do this, you need to roll out the puff pastry or salt dough and form it into shapes as you wish. You can use baking dishes or any other utensils for this.
2. To make a design on the surface of the craft, you need to attach shells to it and press a little. The result will be a shell design, but you can use leaves, twigs, etc.
3. After this, it is best to decorate them with beads and beads. Painted toys look beautiful. To be able to hang them on the Christmas tree for New Year 2021, you need to make a hole for the string.

Browse our photo ideas to expand your imagination.

Master class on creating Christmas tree decorations from salt dough

Crafts from salt dough for making: working together with a preschool child

Fine motor skills in preschool children are usually not very well developed, but modeling classes form all the necessary skills, develop fantasy and imagination. Advice from a kind adult nearby will help the child cope with difficulties.

Snowman "Shmyak"

A child is able to make a good friend for himself for winter games in the house. The help of an adult as a good adviser and leader is mandatory. Use a recipe that adds starch. You just need to take into account that as much starch is added, it is better to remove as much flour. Adding 125 ml of hand cream will be helpful.

The snowman is sculpted sequentially. First, the child tears off three pieces of dough that differ from each other in size.

Make sure that the lumps are not too large, such work will take a very long time to dry and cracks may occur. Install the frame. This can be a rod stuck into a salt dough flatbread, a small stable object that can be used as a rod. The child makes three koloboks, putting each one on a rod in descending order. Help me sculpt the eyes and hands. To attach parts, the gluing area is lubricated with water.

A pedestal pillow can be decorated with a pattern using available materials

Commemorative panels made of salt dough

It will be difficult for a preschooler to create something artistic, but there is a way to let the child take part in the work and cope with it almost independently.

We make a small cake with the child and help him leave a footprint on it. As soon as the product dries, you can let your child paint it in the form of a snowman

The same manipulations are done with a child’s palm print.

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Crafts made from salt dough for schoolchildren

We have already looked at photos of New Year's crafts made from salt dough and want to offer excellent options for working with dough for school-age children. They will cope with everything themselves, after listening to parting words and instructions. This does not mean that you need to leave and abandon your son or daughter to their fate. Our task is to give an idea and explain the principle of operation. It’s good if adults nearby also try their hand at such a fascinating technique.

What salt dough products do children make best?

Depending on the age of the children, the topic and level of difficulty of the work are selected.

Younger children can be trusted to work with molds without any problems. Those who have skills in modeling are tasked with making complex or voluminous figures.

Using a plastic or cardboard plate, it’s easy to make a real winter panel

There will be no special difficulties with the figure of Santa Claus. First, it is better to find a suitable figure drawing, print it and use it as a help

After making several long sausages, the child can weave a Christmas wreath

Snowmen - a favorite children's theme

Invite your child to try drawing a cute pig, the symbol of 2021, on the dough

Those who are completely unsuccessful at modeling can be entrusted with painting the figures.

For such a panel you need not only imagination, but also drawing skills. If you can’t draw the base of the panel yourself, use pictures from the Internet. Layer by layer, starting with a snowy meadow and the sky, which is then painted, the whole picture is sculpted

Owls will feel good among the greenery on the Christmas tree

School-age children will be able to sculpt more details in a Santa Claus figurine than preschoolers

Salt dough angels

Angels are a suitable theme for Christmas decor.

The work is not difficult for experienced ones, but not so easy for beginners. It’s better to take a finished drawing as a basis and constantly check the dimensions with it

Small details make the image complete

Girls usually like to sculpt such figures.

A little angel can become a tiny miracle if you help a child with body and face proportions

Salt dough candlestick

Let's immediately prepare everything you need for crafts from salt dough and study the master class. We take a small round candle, ready-made dough, a garlic press, a plastic knife, a work space, and a rolling pin.

The product is dried and painted. After the varnish coating has dried, you can insert a candle and light it, admiring your own creation.

Using the base rod, you can make a candlestick with both a three-dimensional snowman and a Christmas tree

A table wreath for candles will be a chic decoration for the New Year's table

New Year's mosaic made of beads and bugles

If you don’t know what crafts to make from salt dough for the New Year 2021 with your own hands for holiday home decor, then take advantage of our master class. It is very simple and therefore your children can freely work in this direction on their own, creating beautiful holiday decorations. This activity is perfect for labor lessons at school or the development of children in kindergarten.

To work you will need:

• salty dough;
• plastic covers;
• beads and seed beads;
• gold paint.

Progress:

1. To get beautiful toys for the New Year tree, you need to take small lids. Perfect for coffee or other products.
2. Then the parts you have chosen need to be decorated with gold paint or you can leave them as they are.
3. After this, they need to be filled with salt dough, and a mosaic should be attached on top. If desired, you can use beads, glass beads or other interesting things.
4. By attaching a thread to the product, you will get a wonderful DIY craft for the New Year 2021.

To expand your knowledge in the field of New Year's decorations from the above-mentioned material, made with your own hands, we recommend watching our video tutorial. From it you will learn about the existence of some secrets in this work.

Master class: 11 secrets when working with salt dough

Other ideas for crafts made from salt dough for the New Year

Products made from salt dough are not only painted and varnished. They are also decorated with rhinestones, sequins, and beads. In this case, the crafts are dried naturally so as not to damage the decor.

Let's get acquainted with this method of decorating crafts, such as decoupage.

Decoupage of finished products

To work, you need a New Year's napkin with a suitable pattern for the size of the finished product, PVA glue and a brush.

We coat the craft with PVA glue, place the desired piece of napkin on it and smooth it with a brush. Leave the product to dry

This is one of the easiest ways to decorate smooth crafts.

Round flatbread toys are perfectly decorated with napkins

Flat Christmas decorations

Let's learn how to make figures from salt dough, a small master class will help with this.

We hope that our information was useful, and you, too, will want to try to revive dough from flour, salt and water at home, turning it into wonderful products.