As you might know, I have the absolute best playdough recipe you will ever find. Goodness that sounds braggy, sorry about that, but it is! It comes from having been a Kindergarten teacher for ten years. Well, today I get to share with you the perfect recipe for salt dough. Specifically, the perfect salt dough recipe for beads!

Salt dough is the most ideal introduction to clay for children. It is not a true clay, but rather a middle ground between playdough and clay. It is a little firmer than playdough making it wonderful to strengthen little fingers. 

One activity that is so fabulous for little hands is to make salt dough beads. It couldn’t be easier either. Little ones roll balls of dough, flatten slightly and poke a toothpick in the middle. 

Little spheres can be rolled on the table or in the palm of a hand. They can be squished down a little to make a cylinder shape, pushed in on the sides to make it squarish, or left spherical. Ben made decided not to poke holes in his beads at all and instead turn those beads into marbles. Whatever floats your boat!

All the while those little hands are rolling and squishing and poking they are getting stronger, more agile, and increasing in dexterity as well. 

Best of all, the salt dough itself can not be easier to make. I claim it is only 2 ingredients. But some might argue it has 3. I suppose water is an ingredient … but it is not one you will run out of – I hope!

Here is The Perfect Recipe for Salt Dough Beads:

1/2 cup salt

1 cup flour

1 1/4 cup boiling water

Simply mix them all together and stir, stir, stir. Once it is cool enough you can knead it with your hands. It will be a bit dry, but should hold together easily. If it doesn’t, just add a little extra water. 

When you are done making your salt dough beads, you can bake them in the oven low and slow. We bake ours at 275 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30-45 minutes. If your beads are large you might need to bake them a little longer. 

Once they are cool you can paint them all the colours of the rainbow. (Or every single one blue).

We like to use acrylic paint.

You can make so many things out of salt dough. In fact I wrote an entire blog post about that as well. You can find it right here: Incredible Things to Make with Salt Dough

I hope you and your little ones love this recipe for salt dough friends,

Thank you so much for reading,