Learn how to make adorable salt dough ornaments for your Christmas tree! Fun, easy, and perfect for adding a personal touch to your holiday decor.
Skills Required: Beginner. You’ll make salt dough according to the recipe, cut your shapes, and then bake it. Then you’ll paint and Mod Podge the resulting ornaments. Anyone can do this project without prior experience.
Hey there, crafty friends! Are you ready to try a festive project that’s guaranteed to spread holiday cheer and leave you with the cutest ornaments ever?
Let’s talk about salt dough ornaments, specifically those adorable gingerbread men that look good enough to eat (but trust me, they’re not!).
If you’re itching to add a personal touch to your Christmas tree this year, or if you just love the idea of homemade decorations that are as fun to make as they are to display, you’ve come to the right place.
Now, I know what you might be thinking: “Salt dough ornaments? Isn’t that something kids do?” Well, yes, they are perfect for kids, but they’re also a fantastic project for grown-ups.
Whether you’re a seasoned crafter or just looking for a fun weekend activity, making salt dough Christmas ornaments is a delightful way to get into the holiday spirit.
Plus, it’s a great way to create lasting memories and unique decorations that you’ll cherish for years to come.
Why gingerbread men, you ask? Well, they’re classic, charming, and just plain fun to make. With their cheerful faces and tiny little details, these ornaments will bring a smile to anyone’s face.
And the best part? You don’t need a bunch of fancy supplies or special skills. If you can roll dough and use a cookie cutter, you’re already halfway there!
So grab your apron, preheat your oven, and get ready to have some festive fun. Scroll down for the full tutorial on how to make these delightful salt dough gingerbread men ornaments.
Tips for Making Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments
These ornaments are perfect for adding a personalized touch of whimsy for the holiday. Then, of course, you can hang them on your Christmas tree. They look great against the pine backdrop!
How to Make Salt Dough
This is a very affordable project. You probably already have the ingredients in your kitchen! Our salt dough recipe is made with flour, salt, and water. It’s *really* easy and you can’t mess it up.
The only thing I ask is that you don’t eat the dough, or let your children eat it. It tastes terrible anyway.
Preserving the Ornaments
You have a few options for preserving your ornaments. Before you do any preservation, you’ll want to paint them (if you want to use paint). You can paint the entire ornament or partial . . . and I recommend acrylic paint.
After that you can do one of two things. You can seal the ornaments with Mod Podge (giving the ornament a few coats) or you can use a spray sealer. Or both. The decoupage medium is sufficient, but more coats just makes them more durable.
The finish you use to preserve the salt dough is up to you – pick Satin, Gloss, or Matte depending on what you like. I used Matte in this project.
How Long do Salt Dough Ornaments Last?
If you preserve your ornaments properly, salt dough can last for years. I have some dough ornaments from my childhood, so they would be at least 40 years old. They are still in great condition and there’s been no disintegration whatsoever!
Are you ready to start the project? Here’s what you’re going to need!
Gather These Supplies
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup table salt (you can also grind up other salt)
- 3/4 – 1 cup water
- Mod Podge
- Baker’s twine or twine
- Parchment paper
- Acrylic paint
- Acrylic paint markers
- Sandpaper (optional)
Tools
- Paintbrushes
- Cookie cutters
- Rolling pin
- Scissors
- Baking sheet
- Oven
It’s as simple as that! These are so fun and easy to make, and it’s a great Christmas kids’ craft, as well!
Get the printable how to card for this project below:
Salt Dough Ornaments
Equipment
- Cookie cutters
- Rolling Pin
- Baking sheet
- Oven
Materials
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup salt
- 3/4 – 1 cup water
- Mod Podge
- Baker’s twine or twine
- Parchment paper
- Acrylic paint
- Paint pen(s)
- Sandpaper optional
Instructions
- Make the dough by mixing the flour, salt, and water in a bowl. Knead the dough to combine. If your dough is too dry, add a bit more water, if it's too wet, just add more flour. Salt dough is very forgiving; it's hard to mess it up!
- Roll out the dough on a flour and cornstarch dusted surface, around 1/4 inch thick. Use a gingerbread man-shaped cookie cutter to cut your shapes. For any remaining dough, gather it up and form it into another ball to roll out and cut. Repeat until there is little to no dough left.
- Use the end of a drinking straw or skewer to poke a hole at the top of each ornament for hanging.
- Place on a baking sheet and bake at 250F degrees (121 C) for 2-3 hours. Let cool. Flip the gingerbread men a few times so they bake evenly and do not curl up. Allow them to cool completely. If desired, sand off sharp edges.
- Mod Podge the top, sides and bottom of your gingerbread ornaments once baked and dry to seal and so you have a nice, even surface for painting. Let dry.
- Paint and decorate your ornament – to give it a gingerbread color, I used a mixture of tan and brown acrylic paints. Let dry completely. Add embellishments with acrylic paint markers for the ‘icing’, or even using puffy paint, ribbons, trim and other craft items.
- Once everything is dry, seal with another coat (or two) of matte Mod Podge, and then add your ribbon or twine to hang.
Video
Notes
If you are interested in making some additional crafts with salt dough, get inspired by our salt dough pins. I’d also love for you to check out these ornaments:
Confetti • Decoupage Fabric • Glass Balls • Kids’ Handprints • Letters • Mason Jar Lids • Mod Podge Glitter • Night Light Bulbs • Painted Wood • Paper Bags • Paper Balls • Photo Blocks • Shadow Box • Spools • Sugar
I love these tags! They’re so cute!
Paige
https://www.thehappyflammily.com/
Love this idea! Fun time making them and festive way of decorate the gifts. I am thinking we can use it as ornaments after that 😀 Thanks for the step-by-step tutorial!
really bad qty
ha ha just kidding
Hi,
Thank you so much for all the methods.
I have few question in my mind
Can we sell salt dough creativity
Im working on ceramic murals and calligraphy with stoneware.
But due to travel i wont be able to go for firing my pieces.
Can i make murals with salt doough?
Thanks
Appreciate your response
Hi Siddiqa! Mod POdge will seal and protect salt dough and make it more durable – it won’t be the same as ceramic glaze! It’s not waterproof like that. But if you’re doing murals and not drinking out of it, you should be fine!
My dough seems really sticky. When I pull my child’s hand out of the dough it sticks to his fingers creating an abnormal handprint. Any suggestions to help with this? Thanks!
Hi Lisa! Yes, just add more flour (a little bit at a time) until it isn’t sticky anymore. You want to go slow so you don’t overdo it, but it shouldn’t take long to adjust the mixture manually 🙂
I have some ornaments I did when my boys were small that is in 1980 and they are still like when I made them. The only problem I have had with them is that I used copper electrical wire to make a loop to hang them and the salt eat the wire with time. We just do more and glue them in the ornaments, hopefully they will last till I last…..
Wow Liane! I didn’t even think of that with the copper wire. I bet those ornaments are such treasures to you!
This is a great post – thank you!
Would love your advice…
I had my first go today with my daughter : )
They came out of the oven pretty good – some still a tiny bit squidgy but mostly fine. However post painting they seem to have softened up again. Will they dry out again? Or is it a lost cause? They’re currently on the radiator…!
Thank you!
I think you can let them dry out on the radiator and they should be fine 🙂 Next time I’d just let them cook longer!
If I add google eyes, ribbon, tulle or stickers to the ornaments, when do I put the mod podge on? Can it go over those items or should the mod podge go on before I put them on?
Thank you!
Stickers can go before Mod Podge, but the rest just glue on afterwards with craft glue!
@Amy,
What if I put the googly eyes on and then sprayed with the sealer? What will happen?
Thanks!
Can these be put in the oven after they’ve been painted and sealed with mod podge? It’s my first time making these and I didn’t realize they would take 4 weeks to cure! I see my in-laws in four days and I’m trying to figure out how to speed up the process!
TIA!
Hi Melissa! Yes they can. Use acrylic paint, Mod Podge, no spray sealer, lowest oven temp (200-ish) and then do not leave unattended, check regularly.
@MELISSA, Where does it say it takes 4 weeks to cure?? I couldn’t find this anywhere on the page except for your comment and I’m considering doing this as a daycare teacher gift so I’m freaking out lol…
Hi Ann! Cure is different than dry time! Acrylic products typically dry right away, or within hours (or in humid environments maybe longer). You can touch them, hang them, but you shouldn’t expose them yet to rough handling.
Curing is when solvents in a product evaporate and a product reaches its maximum strength. Curing is a chemical process. Even craft paint goes through this process, as does wall paint, etc. You are fine to use them or send them before fully cured.
Hi there, I can’t get mod podge for a few days but I need to make this ornaments today for a friend that will be saying goodbye to their pet. If I make these and baked them etc how long will they last before putting the mod podge on? I’m worried it will go off during the time I wait for he mod podge to be delivered it could be a few days to a week?
Your ornaments will be fine until the Mod Podge arrives! Don’t worry. And I’m so sorry for your friend!
@Amy, thank you Amy very much for your kind words and your advice.
@Amy, how should I store them u til the mod podge arrives?
Hi,
Growing up my Mom and I had literally made 10’s of thousands of her favorite 1940’s recipe for sugar cookies to share with family and friends at Christmastime. After she passed I inherited her many beautiful vintage cookie cutters. I feel like they should be shared with those who loved her in some special way and not kept in a box. This Christmas I’d like to do something for my family who fondly remember and enjoyed those cookies. Your salt dough cookie recipe seems like a good way to memorialize my mom and her famous sugar cookies at Christmastime which she always made so special for us. I want to gift them along with a copy of her sugar cookie recipe. Questions, could these ornaments be scented with essential oils? If so, I wonder how long the ornaments might last? I found an essential oil recipe for sugar cookies online that could be used but I do like the idea that you suggest by protecting them with paint and Mod Podge. I would be grateful for your thoughts. Essential oils scented or paint protected? I realize the essential oil scents won’t last forever. Thank you for your time and sharing this recipe.
I think that’s a beautiful idea! And yes, you could use essential oils. I would just add it to the salt dough recipe. I still have salt dough ornaments from when I was a child, and I’m 44. So I think they would last a loooong time!
Hi there!! I’m hoping you can help me! I can’t seem to find any answers on my own and my salt dough project is far too special to risk ruining. Unfortunately, I don’t have the opportunity for a re-do! My neighbors Pug, Guinness, became suddenly ill and he had to make the difficult decision to let him go 🙁 Before I drove them to the vet, I whipped up a batch of salt dough (thanks for the recipe!!) and I asked for a few minutes of alone time with Guinness so I could get his little prints in the dough to surprise my neighbor with a Christmas ornament in December.
I was able to get 4 great prints so I have 4 ornaments to make and choose from. I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to decorate/paint them or if I was just going to leave them natural so they have been sitting on parchment paper air drying for well over a week.
My question is, can I seal the salt dough with a sealer (mod podge or an acrylic or polyurethane spray) and then eventually go back and possibly paint them with acrylic paint? I feel like I should get them sealed ASAP because I’m afraid of them cracking, but I’m not ready to paint them yet (basically because I’m so indecisive and can’t decide what to do with a gift so special).
Everything I read says that surfaces can’t be painted after sealing without prepping the surface so the paint sticks, but I can’t find anything specific to salt dough! Is there anything you can tell me about it? Can I seal, paint and then apply seal again?
I’m so sorry for the long question!! I consider myself pretty crafty, but I have zero experience working with salt dough. My biggest fear is doing something that would ruin Guinness’ special little irreplaceable prints!!
Great, thorough and informative post, btw…I applaud you for keeping it current and continuing to read and respond to comments!! That’s very awesome of you!!
I appreciate any advice you can give me. Thank you SO MUCH in advance!!
XOXO
Sorry to hear about the pug! I am a pug lover myself 🙂 I have one. Anyway, acrylic products work together well. That means if you seal with Mod Podge, yes you can paint over it with craft paint, and then even Mod Podge or seal over it again, and it’s going to be fine. You are fine to go ahead and seal them. You can also simply paint over them with white acrylic paint which would act as a “sealer” until you are ready to paint. Just make sure all the products are acrylic. Good luck, you’re going to be fine!
Hi Amy
Thank you so much for the wonderful tutorial. Please could you tell me if the 250 degree temperature is centigrade or fahrenheit?
Many thanks.
Pam.
It is fahrenheit! Thanks for noting – I’ll correct it 🙂
Hello! I sealed my salt dough ornament with mod podge, and the next day, it softened. Is not OK ? Is that normal?
Hi Shanda – I wonder if they weren’t baked enough? That’s the only reason why I can think it would do that. You can put them back in the oven at a very low temp and watch them to dry them out further.
This is my third attempt today at making some ornaments with my daughters and when they bake they keep puffing up. This time I did go in an poke a little hole and press them down mid-bake and hoping they don’t puff up again. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong!
There are two reasons why it will puff up. If the oven is at too hot a temperature – you need to make sure it is as low as possible. … it may also puff up if you have used self-raising flour instead of plain or all-purpose flour. Since all ovens are a little different, I would try turning it down a bit! See if that helps. You might have to bake longer.
I am a mother of 5month baby and I want to preserve his hand and foot prints with salt dough recipe. I want to ask if I can air dry salt dough and not bake it. Will it still last for longer time.
You could use air dry clay: https://www.amazon.com/Crayola-Clay-White-Pounds-Pack/dp/B001GIB3FQ
OR you can try just letting it dry. I’ve never done it with salt dough and just let it dry; I’ve always baked it. I’m assuming it would dry but not sure how long it would take (and my concern is mold depending on the humidity of where you live). So if you choose to attempt it just be sure to watch it and make sure it’s not getting gross! The air dry clay takes just a few days: https://modpodgerocksblog.com/easy-handprint-ornament/
Is this 250 degrees Celcius fanforced?
It’s 250 F! 121 C. Correction made 🙂