Thursday 1 November 2012

Salt dough advent calender


One of the things I love about the kids getting older is being able to do things with them I enjoyed as a kid (fortunately so far they seem to enjoy them too!) Salt dough featured highly in our childhood so it's not surprising that when thinking about how I could make an advent calender salt dough sprung to mind.

advent calender

I made the dough with The Fairy (you just add the ingredients then mix).

how to make salt dough

We then cut out the numbers/ stars, great counting practice.

homemade advent calender

You need to cook salt dough on a very low temp (gas mark 1/4) - the idea is to dry the shapes out, not bake them. Some people recommend to leave the shapes to air dry for a couple of days - I've never had very much luck with that and always end up finishing them in the oven (perhaps because I always make thick shapes or possibly as I'm not always very patient). Once dry you can then paint.

homemade advent calender

You maybe wondering why there is a dolls house at the start of this post, well the Fairy is totally in love with her dolls house - assembled and painted for her recent birthday by my lovely Dad (Thanks Dad!) The house inspired the purple and silver colour scheme we used to decorate the finished stars.

So the plan is each night of advent for myself or The Papa to hide a star in the dolls house. In the morning The Fairy can hunt for it and we can add it to our advent string.Where's the star hiding today?




This is a blog hop - check out the other blog hop co hosts to see what they have created.

Rainy Day Mum ~ Mummy Mummy Mum! ~ Life at the Zoo ~ Here Come the Girls
Do you have an Advent post? Link up your ideas below,

10 comments:

  1. WOW!! Love this idea for salt dough - hadn't realised Christmas/Advent this close :-? - liked the fairy lights

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  2. Great idea, I'd thought about doing salt dough decorations, but using them for advent is a great idea

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  3. That is a brilliant idea! Very creative. xx

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  4. A lovely idea! I really like the idea of hiding the stars around the doll's house.

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  5. That is SUCH a cute Advent Calendar idea.. Love that you will be hiding it in the dolls house. Adorable. And love the final "string of stars".

    Thank you for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!

    Maggy

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  6. Oh I love this salt dough advent calendar - think my lad would try and eat it lol

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  7. Thanks for linking this to Tuesday Tots. I'm doing a round-up of Cooking for Kids on next weeks TT and I'll be featuring your great calendar. Thanks for sharing :)

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  8. I love this it's so different and fun to do. Thank you for linking to Tuesday Tots this week and letting you know that I will also be featuring it over on Rainy Day Mum this week.

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  9. I love your unique idea for an Advent Calendar! I featured your post and photo in my 40+ Christmas Countdown Activities at http://livingmontessorinow.com/2012/11/27/40-plus-christmas-countdown-activities/

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  10. Thanks for sharing on Tuesday Tots! I am featuring your post, too, on In Lieu of Preschool this week: http://www.inlieuofpreschool.com/2012/11/christmas-crafts-on-tuesday-tots.html Please feel free to stop by and grab a featured button! Off to pin now. Thanks again! :)

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