Easter is on its way and I am very much looking forward to it. I’m ready for the bright colors, the pastels, and anything with spring green. And I am helping it along with the bright tones of these Salt Dough Easter Egg Ornaments.
EASY DIY SALT DOUGH EASTER EGGS
Salt dough lends itself to all sorts of shape making. Once baked to thoroughly dry, the dough is hard and can last for years. The dough is also paintable which makes it all the more fun.
I love the tradition of an Easter Tree — a branch on which to hang eggs, bunnies and colorful bits. Part of this batch of Salt Dough Easter Eggs will hang on our tree but I hope to hang some outside too. You see, if a spray paint or clear spray paint sealer is used, these ornaments can hung outside and inside alike.
I think seeing bright bits of color amidst the early spring landscape would be lovely, don’t you? Let’s get started.
Salt Dough Easter Eggs – Supply List
– batch or two of salt dough (see below)
– rolling pin
– ruler, to measure dough thickness
– egg shape cutter
– spatula
– straw, for making holes
– parchment-paper covered baking sheets
– spray or acrylic paint
– paint pens, optional
– clear coat sealer, optional
– twine, ribbon
Recipe for Salt Dough Easter Eggs
Mix up your favorite salt dough recipe. For this project, I used the following recipe:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water
Stir together all three ingredients until a dough forms. Kneading the dough a couple times can help make it smoother.
Roll it out (I rolled mine to 1/4 inch thick) and cut out desired shapes.
Place the salt dough Easter eggs on the parchment-covered baking sheets. Remember to make a hole so you can hang the ornaments — a straw works perfectly!
Bake at 250F for 2 hours.
Directions for Salt Dough Easter Eggs
Once the shapes are adequately baked, dried and then thoroughly cooled, it’s painting time. I like using spray paint because it’s faster and easier but acrylics work just as well.
Allow the paint to thoroughly dry. Use paint pens to add polka dots or lines of decorations to the eggs. Optional: To further protect the color and design, add a clear coat sealer.
Loop twine or ribbon through the holes and hang.
Hooray! Your Salt Dough Easter Eggs are finished. It’s feeling more spring like already!
P.S. — Adorable Painted Egg Cartons.
Credits: Photos by Amy Christie for Design Mom.
These are really cute. I remember making little branch trees like this as a kid. We’d cut out paper hearts and write our wishes for spring on them. Maybe it’s a tradition I need to carry on with my little girl too!
I like the wishes for spring! I have a few of my own. :)
I also like the wishes of spring. You could also do this for Christmas using Christmas cookie cutters.
We made some today however dough was extremely sticky and hard to roll and cut into shapes
i added about
another tablespoon (+) of flour and the dough came out perfect to roll
This will be a great Easter craft for my cub scouts. Thank you.
Did you use all purpose or self rising flour? These are adorable. I’m doing these with my granddaughters!!!! ❤️
Great idea.
One Christmas I stayed up into the wee hours cutting out ornaments using my cookie cutters. I painted/glittered them, and 40 years later still hang the survivors on my tree!
Hi!
We just wondered upon this recipe during our quarantine crafting! We made these and then walked around hanging them around our neighborhood!
Thanks for the fun distraction!
Great idea! I remember my mom making ornaments of salt dough when I was a kid. She passed away in Feb. I’m gonna steal your idea and spread some love through these hard times. 💜 Stay Safe
Just wondering if we should be painting both sides so they last longer. Anyone?
I say absolutely!!! Both sides😉🙂
Way cool idea.
Great for scavenger hunts.
A joyful thing to find.
Thanks for sharing.
That’s really cool way to reach goals also. Very lovely idea.
Thank you for sharing.
I added food color to the mixed dough for a marble effect they are in the oven currently. Will see how it worked after baking.
Do you use all purpose flour?
We’ve always had Easter trees, too, but I never thought of salt dough eggs. Great idea! Maybe this will get us feeling more spring-ish–we’re covered in snow, too. :)
Where do you get the paint pen .I want to get n try with my grandchildren, look like fun.
I found some at Dollar tree.. and walmart!
These are so adorable! I pinned this and then came to your site to see how you painted your perfect polka dots and stripes. I love the idea of using paint pens! We’re going to make these today.
I hope you had fun making them!
Gabrielle – PLEASE update this post to add a warning for dog owners. Salt dough is very dangerous and DEADLY for dogs! Please keep salt dough way up high away from dogs, the salt smell will lure your dog and they like the salty taste but the high salt content can kill them.
THEY ARE SO CUTE LOVE THEM
Does this work with gluten free flour? That is all I have in my house right now.
Terri look up baking soda dough. Cheaper option thab using GF flour!!!
How long and at what temperature do you bake them?
What type of paint and finish do you recommend
Made these with my 3 year old this morning. If you just follow the recipe given for salt dough you will end up with a sticky mess. I found you needed a lot more flour to get a dough that you could roll and work with. They are currently in the oven so we will see how they turned out.
We made them followed the recipe and it’s not sticky as long as u keep mixing it. Mine was perfect
250 temp n 2 hrs to bake
Tracy, thank you for the heads up. We have a curious puppy in our house and while we’ve been dog owners our entire lives, this is not something that was on our list of things to look out for.
Sorry might have
Been answered but what do you can if you don’t have access to parchment paper?
Wax paper should work
I live this idea! We’ll be making some for Easter!
You can’t put wax paper in oven!!!!!
I just made these. In the oven. Can’t wait. Made them for my 3 grandsons. They are little. The bigger boys 5-9 may laugh but they will have a really good time painting. Janie
What a fun (and easy!) craft for the kiddos! We usually have about 15-20 children at our home on Easter and we’re always looking for fun new crafts to keep everyone busy in the afternoon. I think we’ll have to try this one this year. We shared this as a pin as well. Thanks for sharing!
I love these! Can’t wait to make some with my son. Thanks!
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I too remember your “Easter tree”. Your Mom was so great about decorating for the seasons, and for the children. I am thinking about making these for some spring color, and grandchildren fun. Thanks Amy!
It would be fun to do some all together!
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Do you use plain flour or self rising flour??? Does it matter??
My seems sticky and won’t hold shape when removing to put on cookie sheet lines with paper. What can I do ?
Add a little bit more flour
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I put it in the freezer for about 5 minutes. Rolled our so much better.
Thanks for sharing! Just made these with my girls and I can’t wait to get our tree up :)
If I don’t have an egg shaped cookie cutter what do you suggest to use
Roll a ball. Squish into a circle and then lightly pull one edge a bit to elongate. ;)
Do you have any plastic Easter eggs? We used one that opens up down the middle instead of top and bottom and it worked great!
What do you put the tree branch in as a base?
I used a circle and pinched the tips 😉
I used one half of an oval plastic Easter egg.
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I was wondering if anyone has done these with the kids coloring the eggs with markers? Are the eggs too breakable for young kids to decorate with markers?
Markers are perfect Amanda! As young ones, we colored our fair share with markers too. :)
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My grandaughters and I are making these this afternoon to decorate next weekend!!! Love the idea. Thanks for pinning it!!!
Thanks for such a cute idea! My grandmother always had an Easter tree, and now I know just how to pass the tradition along to my son! Will be making these today!
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just made these, my daughter is having a party tomorrow and thought this would be cute for the little girls to decorate. unfortunately after following the directions as written, the eggs bubbled up and turned brown while baking. i am still trying to spray paint them but they sure didn’t turn out like the ones in the pin :/
mine did the exactly same thing :(
Mine are in the oven and they are puffing up while baking. I tried pressing them down but they puff back up. They are suppose to bake 20 minutes more. Hoping they will flatten as they cool.
Any suggestions ?
Still looking for parchment paper options, as I do not have any
Not real sure ……… but tinfoil might work.
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Somehow I missed this cute post a few weeks ago! Thanks for the cute reminder of this fun craft–haven’t done it since Brownies in the 80s!
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thanks for the tutorial.
Im making a greatgrandkids tree. one egg for each child with name and picture on it, then hang on branch for display in frontroom.
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Would these be okay to use as decorations outside?
Most definitely Lyn! Especially if you use spray paint!
What kind of knot did you secure the twine with?
I love these! We made them last year but set them on newspaper for spray painting. The paper stuck to the eggs. So lesson learned, we are going to try them again this year, here’s hoping they turn out better.
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You may have covered this and I missed it, but do you paint the eggs before you bake them, or after? And what types of spray paint do you use? Can you use the apple barrel craft paints or a nicer acrylic paint? Or will anything work? Thanks so much!! Excited about trying out this project :)
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Love this idea. I’m thinking pumpkins and autumn leaves now that it’s fall. Good way to put those cookie cutters to use.
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