I’m back with another fun craft inspired by Family Fun Magazine. A few months ago I shared the Fruity Yogurt Discs. Today, the little one and I are making these fun stepping stones. For those of you who are sea shell collectors, there are probably times that you return from the beach with bags of broken shells and other stuff the kiddos insisted on “collecting”. If you’ve ever wondered what to do with them, here’s one idea- turn them into a stepping stone keepsake.
Skill: Beginner (appropriate for children)
Supplies/Ingredients:
- Flour
- Salt
- Water
- Paint for tinting (if desired)
- Shells or stones
- Aluminum foil
The Family Fun Magazine gives an awesome recipe that involves salt dough recipe that involves mixing 3 cups flour, 1 cup salt, and 1 1/4 cup water. Knead the dough until soft. Divide the dough into three balls of the same size. At this point, you can add acrylic paint to give the salt dough color. As an alternative, you can also add a colored spice (like cinnamon). Knead the color into the dough.
Press into 6 inch circles on greased aluminum foil. Press your stones or sea shells into the dough.
Bake for 2 hours at 275 degrees.
Set these out as decorations around the house, or coat them with varnish to place them outside.
Linking to these parties.
Cute idea! I be the kids love this. 🙂
This is such a great project! I can see many objects can be used for this. Thank you!
What a fabulous idea, Melanie!!
I love this idea! We live on the Gulf, so our house is filled with my daughter’s “treasures” from the beach. I’ve been trying to think of a way to organize or display them, instead of the plastic buckets where they currently reside. 🙂 We will DEFINITELY be following your example. Thanks for sharing. Also, TRIPLETS? I’m so jealous! Congrats to you and your family!
Trinity
This brings back some fun memories! My friend and I made salt dough Christmas decorations years ago. They were fun to make and decorate and I still have some of them. Thanks for sharing. Found you from Family Home and Life.
Love this idea. I needed a good salt dough recipe too. And have many, many sea shells from past years of beach going (I take less now!) But can you keep it outside or will it get weathered by rain? I guess it could go on an outdoor table!
Hi, I kept it outside for one summer, and then it was under a porch for another length of time. As I acquired more outdoor things, I moved this into a keepsake box. Up until that point, it had held up pretty well. However, I have not tried it for any length of time (as in, years and years!).
What would you use to seal them to make them weather worthy
I have heard of some coating them with varnish, but I have never tried this. I think another crafting medium (some sort of cement or maybe a clay?) would be better for ones left in the weather.