DIY Salt Dough Pumpkins


Since Halloween is right around the corner, we thought it would be fun to share this easy pumpkin craft you can do with the kids. Giustina, from Domestically Blissful, came up with this fun project. I love the simple idea of turning a salt dough ball into a pumpkin with the help of a piece of string. Make a bunch for a last minute mini pumpkin patch in your home. You could also tie a tag to the stem and use them for Thanksgiving place cards.

Celebrate this cozy season with Giustina’s Mini Caramel Apples and Creamy Gnocchi and Chicken Soup recipes, and decorate with her Glitter Edged Fall Leaves.

For more last minute Halloween decorations, check out our Printable Bat-Mobile, Spooky Specimen Jars, and Halloween Homemade Playdough Pals (with sparkly playdough recipe).

Find out how to make these DIY Salt Dough Pumpkins after the jump…


DIY Salt Dough Pumpkins

I might be a little obsessed with pumpkins right now… So I am really hoping you are too because this is really just the beginning of my pumpkin crafts for this season! These adorable little pumpkins are very easy to make and are a fun little fall project to do with your kids!

What you’ll need:

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

1 cup water

Food coloring – yellow and red

String or a toothpick

Sticks

First, mix together the 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of salt.

Slowly add in the water until you have a good dough consistency.

Next, knead the dough for about 30 seconds. – If you do not use all the dough on this project but you want to keep it for another project you can place it in a bowl, sprinkle it with water, cover it in plastic wrap, and keep it in your fridge for up to a week.

Now comes the fun part!

In a small bowl, add two drops of yellow and one drop of red food coloring and pinch off a small amount of dough.

Pour a little bit of the food coloring into the dough and blend the color into the dough.

If you want the pumpkin to be brighter, add more food coloring. With the added liquid you might need to add a little extra flour to keep the salt dough from becoming sticky.

There are two ways to form the creases of the pumpkin, with a toothpick or with string. I have found that using the string is the easiest way. All you have to do is wrap the string around the pumpkin and pull tight.

Continue to work your way around the pumpkin until you have as many creases as you want.

Then set it on tin foil to dry. To speed up the drying process you could place the salt dough in a warm oven to dry.

Once the pumpkin is almost dry, take a small stick, push it into the top of the pumpkin, and then let it continue to air dry – I would not suggest putting a stick in the oven.

If you wanted to make these bigger without having to make more dough or wait forever for it to air dry, you could easily wrap the colored dough around something round – like a styrofoam ball or the plastic balls that I used to make these Twine Wrapped Balls – then let it air dry.

Although I only made this Mini Pumpkin Patch, you could also use the salt dough, food coloring or paint, and cookie cutters to make other fall décor, like leaves, footballs, a mini cornucopia, or a bat!

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4 Comments

Giustina

Hey Mindy!
Once the salt dough pumpkins are dry they should last a long time. We used salt dough to make tags for our wedding favors in early 2012 and I kept some of the extras and they still look as good as new!
I hope that helps!
Giustina from Domestically Blissful

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