Don't Lick Your Sister: Salt Dough Flowers & Butterflies: August Craft

I truly love salt dough crafts. Admittedly, they do require a few extra steps (and days) to complete but the finished product is well worth it (IMO). Plus, there are always way to save time when doing crafts with kids. In this case I made two batches of salt dough several months ago. We cut out bunnies and Easter eggs for our Easter craft. At the same time we also cut our butterflies and flowers and just stored them in a plastic container until we were ready to do this craft (months later).

Here's what you need:

-Salt dough and cookie cutters of your choice.

I'll be adding the link to our first salt dough craft soon for our recipe and some tips - also a quick google search will provide different recipe options too.

- acrylic paint

- paint brushes

- spray sealant

- some kind of string (we used dental floss and fishing line)

- beads!

Step/Day 1: Salt Dough

Make the salt dough, cut it out, bake and cool. Make sure you remember to poke holes at the top for sting (I found a drinking straw works best).

Step/Day 2: Painting

Because you have to use acrylic paint for this be sure to have old clothes and a wet cloth near by.

Step/Day 3: Sealant

I put the pieces on a cookie sheet and

did this part after the girls were in bed.

Step/Day 4: Bead Work

A few months ago, my curious 1 year old found the dental floss...and wanted to see what was inside. It's amazing how quickly this can happen.

I couldn't see throwing all this away so I decided we would use it for this craft. It worked perfectly. As for the beads:

I found these in the $1 bins at Target:

I really wanted pastel colored beads.

Target doesn't have much but I found these for $2 in the party section:

It was extra fun for Autumn to cut the necklace and bracelet and pour them into the bowl.

This is one of the hardest fine motor crafts the girls have ever done. My 3 year old was able to do it on her own but I had to hold the string for my almost 2 year old.

Doing each step on a new day worked well for us. We actually took 2 days for painting. And many more days than that to add beads. I actually just left the supplies on our table on a cookie sheet. The kids could just decide to do a little bead work whenever they felt like it this way.

I love this craft because I was actually able to paint and bead right along with the kids. It wasn't just me supervising them making something; I got to make something too. The finished products are super cute!

These happen to fit perfectly with the girls' bedroom theme, they will look awesome on my peg board at work and make wonderful gifts! I'm looking forward to making up our next batch of salt dough now. I think it'll include autumn leaves and Christmas trees! What will you make with your family?