Childrens books at The Story Factory - The Sand Witch series of childrens books - Childrens Activities

In this activity we are going to make what's called 'Salt Dough' - it's similar to making something out of clay, only the materials and equipment are probably already there in your kitchen!
Sand Witch placing some dough in her oven Materials

2 Mugs of plain flour (good quality for best results)

1 mug of fine grain salt

Mug of warm water

Rolling pin

Paintbrushes

Paints (water based)

Yacht varnish

Knife for shaping and cutting

Baking tray

Mixing bowl

One Grown up

Imagination

(You'll need the imagination when it comes to modelling your very own Sand Witch character - why not look at the character page for ideas!)
Making the dough
Mix the flour and salt together, then add the warm water all in one go and knead well, spend time on this bit because the warth of your hands helps give the dough elasticity and a smoother consistancy. Any dough you are not using at the moment keep covered with a damp cloth or it will go crusty.
Modelling your dough
When rolling out your dough do so on a floured surface and use a floured rolling pin, but when rolling by hand it's best not to use flour, you will need to wash your hands a lot for they get a bit dry and crusty because of the salt. It is best to work directly on to your baking tray because your finished model may distort when moving it.
To join pieces of dough together: i.e. arms to bodies, you will need a small piece of your dough in a small container with enough water to make a kind of paste, then with a small paintbrush apply to the pieces which need sticking and just like magic they are well and truly stuck.
Baking the dough
Your oven temperature needs to be 100 - 120C, (200 - 250F or Gas Mark 1/4 - 1/2) it usually takes about one hour for every 6mm of dough thickness, so be patient, you will know when it's done if you tap the underside of your model it should give you a hollow sound, if you hear a dull sound leave it for a while longer. It is important your model is hard all the way through because if not if will shrink and crack.
Painting the model
Make sure your model is quite cold before you start to paint it, use water based paints and gradually build up the layers until you get the desired effect you want, once you've finished painting leave to dry then using yacht varnish give your model two or three coats leaving each coat to dry completely before applying the next one. There you've finished, wasn't that easy!