Making salt dough Christmas decorations

This is a great one to do with kids before Christmas (or any other time of year really).  Very simple and cheap, but gives you some great gifts for people or simply some personal decorations to add to your Christmas tree.

Here's some we made earlier...  (sorry couldn't resist) 

What you need :
1/2 a cup of Salt
1/2 a cup of Water
1 cup of plain Flour
2 small hands that like to get messy 

It's very easy to mix, put the salt and flour into a bowl, then slowly add the water kneading as you go.  It will take 5 to 10 minutes of kneading until you have a soft mouldable ball of dough.  If it is too sticky you can add more flour, if it is too dry add more water, but we found the above worked perfectly. 

Now you want to roll the dough out, we made it about 1cm thick and press out shapes with moulds (or a glass if you haven't got any).  Poke a hole through the shape so you can hang them.  Pop them on a plate and stick them in a microwave on full power for around 3 minutes, ours took a bit longer, but you want them be be dry and firm.  You can also use an oven on a low heat for a few hours, or leave them for a few days in the sun. 

Once they are cooked, allow them to cool and paint away, we used acrylic paints and added glitter to the wet paint.  You can also add a layer of varnish to add some shine and make them last for years and years. 

A little bit of mess, and a lot of fun.  Give it a go.