I recently came across the wonder of salt dough and my first thought was “where has this been all my life?”
It’s inexpensive, easy to make and there’s a really good chance you already have everything you need in your kitchen cupboard!
It’s such a versatile medium for craft projects. I think it is most commonly used to make Christmas decorations (stay tuned for that post in December!), but there’s no reason to stop there.
You can make hand and foot imprints of your little ones, trinket bowls, art pieces, gift tags… honestly your imagination could go wild on this one.
While creating gifts for Mother’s Day this year using salt dough, I had the idea to use it so make a name puzzle too.
In this post I will walk you through all the steps of creating this simple DIY name puzzle using just flour, salt and water. This educational toy is packed with fun and has the added bonus of making your child feel special with their own personalised puzzle!
I’ve always loved the idea of name puzzles because my son loves puzzles and it’s a great way to teach him the letters in his name and how to spell it.
My first attempt was a bit of a flop, so I used the lessons I learned the first time to perfect the method so that you can get it right on the first try!
Let’s get started.
What you will need:
Salt Dough Recipe:
Equipment:
- Alphabet cookie cutters
- Rolling pin
- Silicone baking mat (or baking paper)
- Bread tin
- Toothpick
- Baking tray
- Oven (optional)
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit (90 degrees Celsius).
Once your dough is ready, divide it into 2 balls. Add a few drops of your desired food color to one ball of dough and knead it together until the color is evenly distributed.
Repeat with the second ball using a different color.
On your baking mat (or baking paper) roll out the dough that you want to use for the board of the puzzle (about 4-5mm thick). Roll it out on the mat you want to bake it on because you won’t be able to lift the raw dough off the rolling surface.
Use your bread pan as a giant cookie cutter to cut out the board of the puzzle.
If the name is particularly long you can also do this by hand, or using any object which gives a big enough space for the name.
Remove all the excess dough around the puzzle board.
Arrange the letters on the board and once you are happy with the alignment you can press down the letters.
Wiggle the cookie cutter in place a little to make the space around letter slightly bigger than the puzzle piece.
Remove the letters with a toothpick and put that dough aside. You won’t use these letters, you will cut new ones from scratch.
Once your board is ready, transfer the baking sheet onto a baking tray.
Next, roll out the other color dough on a silicone baking sheet. Cut out the letters, trying to get nice smooth edges.
Don’t try to lift them because they will stick and change shape. Rather remove the excess dough around them.
Once your letters are ready, you can put them on a baking tray and put them in the oven together with the puzzle board.
Allow them to dry out in the oven for about 1 hour. To test if they are ready, try gently lifting one letter. It should lift off easily and be dry underneath. Be careful not to burn your fingers.
When they are ready, allow them to cool and then the puzzle is done!
How simple was that?
Tips:
- Make sure the salt is fine. If you only have course salt like I did, you can put it in the Nutribullet to make it fine.
- Adding color is optional but it’s easier to add food coloring to the dough than to paint it later. It also looks better (speaking from experience).
- Use gloves when mixing in the food coloring so that you don’t stain your hands.
- You can allow to air dry overnight instead of in the oven but this will take a lot longer.
- If you want to add a glossy finish, you can spray the puzzle with varnish.
- You can use shapes instead of letter too.
- You can also make all the letters of the alphabet to teach kids how to recognize the letters and spell other words.
- Left over dough can be stored, covered in plastic wrap in the fridge for up to 5 days.
This DIY was so quick and easy and my son absolutely loves his puzzle!
What I also love about this activity is that the kids can get involved too.
Both my boys were playing with the dough while I was working and they loved it!
I really hope you enjoyed this DIY. If you make it, be sure to tag me on Instagram or let me know in the comments how it went!
Sincerely,
