Toddler Activities: Valentine's Day Salt Dough Ornaments

1. Non-Toxic Water Based Red Paint

Place a small amount of red paint in a jar lid or disposable plate and slowly add a few drops of water at the time to dilute the paint. Stir and apply paint with a toothbrush. The paint should be red but if you add too much water the colour will be pink. Adjust by adding a little more paint. Use a paper towel to remove excess paint from the toothbrush then dab the top of the cookie. The drying time is about 30 minutes. Then tie on the ribbons and display.

2. Copper Molds and Red Crayons

This is a cookie made from a copper mold commonly found in many kitchens. Make a ball of dough about the size of a golf ball press on to some flour then roll it out until it is about 3/4" thick Flour the bottom of the mold and pat the dough into the design. Patting and pushing the dough is fun for children but they will need a little help to ease the dough out on to a floured surface. Next, cut with heart shaped cookie cutters. Molds like this one make beautiful surface designs and are easy to decorate. Rub the top of each cookie with crayons of red shades and the relief portion of the cookie picks up the crayon and the motifs begins to show. These are a lot of fun for children and adults alike because they are not difficult to make and turn out great results.

3. Cookie Molds and Crayons

This mold is a Brown Bag Cookie Art mold that uses Barnyard Animals as the theme. This mold requires the same technique as used in # 3. Make sure the bottom of the dough is dry with flour as well as the mold. The dough will come out much easier this way. Begin making cookies one motif at the time and help with the easing of the dough out of the mold. Cut with cookie cutters, make a hole with a straw in the top of the cookie to hang as an ornament later. These cookies are easy to make and so much fun to colour.

4. Cookie Cutters and Crayons