Salt dough is awesome. My mom helped me make some during lock-down, which I enjoyed even being a teenager at the time. I have made it with children while babysitting, and they get a real kick out of it. It only requires salt, flour, and water, so it is cost effective and easy to make. You can form it into whatever you like, and leave it to dry or expediate the process and then bake until dry. I really wanted to make some and force my roommates to make things, turn it into a fun arts and crafts (baking adjacent) activity for us all. I, however, caught a cold in the time I had carved out for this endeavor and ran out of hours in my semester to do it. Rats. Rats indeed. But still, I thought compile how salt dough is made and some of the lesson applications it would have!

Making Salt Dough

Recipe linked: https://unsophisticook.com/salt-dough-recipe/

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup salt
• 1 cup water

Instructions:

• Combine the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.
• Gradually add water while stirring and mixing to form a dough with a Play-Doh like consistency.
• Form the dough into a ball and knead for approximately 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and firm. Additional water may be needed, depending upon humidity. Add a teaspoon of water at a time until the dough reaches the proper texture. On the other hand, if the dough is too sticky, add more flour by the teaspoon until it’s no longer tacky.
• Store the salt dough in a Ziploc bag when it’s not in use to prevent it from drying out.
• Leave out on a cookie sheet to dry, or bake at 200 degrees celsius for about an hour, until dry

Math Applications

• Like many baking activities, the class would have to employ ratios and measurement for this activity. Consider planning a lesson around using the 2/1/1. Does the outcome change if we use tablespoons vs cups? What if we doubled it? Triple?
• Teachers could use this as a fun way to get more manipulatives for their class math lessons. Have kids make their salt dough into geometric shapes with cookie cutters, base 10 blocks of different bases, or sets of fraction strips!

Art Applications

• Students can use winter/holiday cookie cutters to create ornaments for the holidays. Once dry, they can be painted and hung with string
• Students could make salt dough hand print turkeys for thanksgiving
• Students could make their own beads that once dry can become necklaces or bracelets. Additionally, salt dough is some what porous and would hold essential oil well, so they could use their beads to make air fresheners too!

Science Applications

• Salt dough fossils! Get plastic animals, sea creatures, dinosaurs, etc, and/or sea shells, and let students make impressions (foot prints, parts of bodies, etc) on their salt dough. This could be used at any point in a fossil unit and would be a good way to introduce different types of fossils.
• Discuss with students the actual changes happening in the salt dough prior to baking vs afterwards. Why is it that the dough becomes hard and stable after baking. Why is it that water + flour -> bread but water + flour + salt -> salt dough that can be made into lots of different things and is more durable?

Cool Links:

Salt dough ammonite activity: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/how-to-make-a-salt-dough-ammonite-fossil.html

Salt dough fossils: https://www.littlepassports.com/blog/craft-diy/make-dinosaur-fossils-using-salt-dough/?srsltid=AfmBOorDoYn4OYdA5ifAly3QbkBAw-HopeKbacgNSlrkIC0EC7AyQcXs

Salt dough ornaments: https://wholefully.com/make-salt-dough-ornaments/

Salt dough beads: https://www.redtedart.com/salt-dough-recipe-beads/