Making ornaments has become one of my favorite Christmas traditions to do with my daughter. This is something I plan to continue with her every year. They are extremely easy to make, smells good and a great sensory activity for her. When looking for recipes online I was disappointed to find that most of them contained glue. I set out to create a recipe that catered to my wants. I wanted them to look a certain way, work with the ingredients I had on hand and be edible/non-toxic. The solution was a cinnamon salt dough ornaments.
Related Article: Sensory Play
How The Tradition Started
Last year, I wanted to do a Christmas activity with Baby T that was age appropriate and developed something that could be given as gifts to our friends and family. Cinnamon ornaments were the perfect idea! We used cinnamon and applesauce and baked them in the oven. I liked how our ornaments turned out last year, but I made some changes to the recipe this year.
Our Recipe
The first change I wanted to make was the color. Though the color of cinnamon is nice, this year I wanted them to be lighter so they would match our Christmas decor better. I also didn’t want to use applesauce this year because I didn’t want to bake them (baking them gives them a darker color as well). Instead of using a ton of cinnamon we put in just enough to give them an amazing scent but did not compromise the color. Of course the last thing I did not want to use was glue. If Baby T wanted to taste the dough, even though it doesn’t taste good, I did not want glue to be in it.
We started with a simple salt dough recipe and added in a little bit of cinnamon. Once all of the ingredients were stirred together, we rolled our dough ball out. We rolled it until about 1/2 inch thick and used our favorite holiday cookie cutters. A straw is a great tool to make a perfect hole in your ornament. This hole can be used to put a festive string through, so it easily hangs on the tree. I also made a few without any holes because I liked the way that looked better.
These ornaments do take a little while to dry. I suggest 1-2 days and flipping them once or twice. Once they were completely dry Baby T finished them off by painting them with her amazing skills.
Make Them Your Own
The best part about this recipe is that you are able to tweak the recipe to make it your own. If you want more cinnamon scent or a darker color just add in more cinnamon and eliminate the extra flour at the end. Once the ornaments are dry you can decorate them how ever you would like!
- 1 Cup Flour
- 1/2 Cup Salt
- 1 Tbsp Cinnamon
- 1/2 Cup Warm Water
- 2-3 Tbsp Flour
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Start by mixing together the flour, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.
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Add in the warm water and stir until everything is combined.
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Finish by adding in the rest of the flour to make the dough from a sticky dough ball to a ball that is able to be rolled out.
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Roll out the dough on some parchment paper until 1/4 -1/2 inch thick.
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Cut out into desired shapes and place on another sheet of parchment paper (make sure they aren’t touching).
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Use a straw to create a hole on the top of your shape (for a string to go into later).
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Let the ornaments dry for 1-2 days. Flipping them over every 10-12 hours.
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Once they are completely dry, tie a string of your choice through the hole and hang them on your tree!
I am happy to say after writing this article, I think I have finally learned how to spell cinnamon without using spell check. Please let me know how you like this recipe! I would love to see any photos of your ornaments.
What Christmas traditions do you do with your children?
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This brings me back to my childhood when I used to make this type of ornaments 🙂
These look fantastic! I’m always looking for cool DIY projects, this sounds like the perfect way to spend an afternoon this weekend! Happy holidays lovely! xoxo
thank you for sharing. i’d love to do this with my six year old. happy holidays! xx
these are so sweet. i’d love to make them with my six year old 🙂
I really want to get into making more of my own ornaments after being disappointed with the selection in stores this year. I like really unique shapes and designs and now know I’m only going to get them if I make them myself. Plus, I have a plethora of cookie cutters as I make my own, so really the design possibilities are endless! I can’t wait to start making these next year!
I totally agree with you! I had such a hard time finding ornaments this year! I didn’t get what I wanted at all.
Fun idea and a wonderful hands on activity with your kids.
Thanks
These look quite simple and cute.
Could they be painted with gold/silver paint too?
Of course!