These salt dough handprint ornaments are a fun keepsake to make for Halloween. Make a pumpkin, Frankenstein, ghost or vampire.  Kids can help to make the salt dough and also decorate them! They will love pressing their hands into the dough and painting them too. Make just one or try all four Halloween characters!
RELATED: Salt Dough Handprint Ornament
Table of Contents
- Halloween Salt Dough Ornaments
- Supplies to Make Halloween Handprint Ornaments
- How do I seal the ornaments?
- What Glue Should I Use?
- Tips for Making Salt Dough
- Directions To Make Halloween Handprint Ornaments
- Get the Recipe
- Directions for How to Decorate the Halloween Salt Dough Crafts
- More Salt Dough Ornaments
Halloween Salt Dough Ornaments
We made these ornaments to look like our Halloween handprint cards. Â You can make these same Halloween characters but turn them into a handprint card that opens up. We loved them so much we thought they would make adorable ornaments too!
We also made salt dough Christmas handprint ornaments.
You only need a few ingredients which you probably already have on hand! Kids love helping to mix and knead the dough too.
Supplies to Make Halloween Handprint Ornaments
To Make the Salt Dough:Â
- Flour
- Â Salt
- Warm Water
- Straw (to make hole)
- Twine (for hanging)
- Sealer – seal with either mod podge or a clear glaze spray. We like this spray for a durable finish. Adults should do the spraying and always follow directions of the product chosen. Sealing the final ornaments will help stop them from cracking in a few years.
For the salt dough recipe – see the recipe below.
REMINDER and SAFETY NOTE: Just a friendly reminder to keep these out of reach of pets (they can be toxic to dogs if ingested).
Here are the supplies you need to decorate them:Â
- Small googly eyes
- Sharpie
- Acrylic Paint – we used orange, lime green, white, black and this color for the vampire face
- Felt – we used black, green, white and red
- Glitter Foam Sheets – red for the vampire bow
- Pipe Cleaner – green
- Hot glue – using hot glue will help the felt and other elements stay on better. Adult supervision required.
How do I seal the ornaments?
Once you are done, don’t forget to seal with either mod podge or a clear glaze spray. It’s easier to do the sealing before adding the embellishments (felt, googly eyes, etc). We like this spray for a durable finish. Adults should do the spraying and always follow directions of the product chosen. Sealing the final ornaments will help stop them from cracking in a few years and keep them from molding.
What Glue Should I Use?
Hot glue is going to work best for gluing onto salt dough. You want the ornaments to last and the craft items to stay on. Adults should help with this part for younger kids.
Tips for Making Salt Dough
- I like to let my salt dough air dry for a day before baking – this cuts down on the baking time too!
- When you take the salt dough out of the oven, if the bottoms are still a little doughy – put them on a cookie drying rack or flip them over and let them air dry another day so that the bottoms get exposed to air too
- Make sure your oven temperature is low. This will take much longer to bake but it will also prevent the salt dough from puffing up.
- You need to knead the salt dough quite a bit to make it smooth. I like to knead it for at least 10 minutes. Break the batch into smaller pieces for kneading and rolling out.
- If it feels dry at first, often a little kneading will head turn it into the consistency you need but you you can add a little bit more water if needed. Do this slowly or you might make the dough too wet.
Directions To Make Halloween Handprint Ornaments
Salt Dough Handprint Ornaments
Video
Materials
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup salt
- 1.5 cups warm water
Instructions
- Begin by mixing 4 cups all purpose flour with 1 cup of salt.
- Add 1.5 cups warm water and mix until it starts to form a dough.
- If it feels a little dry, you can add more water. Add one tablespoon at a time. If it is too sticky, then add a little more flour in.
- Knead the dough until it forms a soft ball. You will need to knead for at least 10 minutes to get it to a good consistency. Roll it out to just under 1/2 inch in thickness. When you roll it out, the dough should be smooth. If it is not smooth, continue to knead for a few more minutes.
- Press a hand into the dough to make a handprint.
- Carefully cut out handprints with a knife (adults only). Leave a little bit of space around each finger so that the fingers don't turn out too skinny once they are baked. Repeat this step 3 more times if you are making all of the ornaments.
- Make a hole with a straw on the top of the middle finger for the Frankenstein and Vampire and a hole on the opposite side (fingers hanging down) for the ghost and pumpkin.
- If you have time, let the ornaments air dry for a day before baking. This will cut down on the baking time needed. Bake for 2 hours at 250 degrees Fahrenheit (or 120 degrees Celsius). Then let the bottoms of the ornaments air dry on a cookie drying rack for one day before painting.
- Paint the ornaments. Then seal with a clear spray sealer or mod podge before adding the embellishments.
- Decorate the ornaments. Instructions below.
- Add a piece of twine or ribbon for hanging.
Directions for How to Decorate the Halloween Salt Dough Crafts
First, paint all of your handprints:Â
- Paint the handprint orange for the pumpkin
- Paint the ghost white
- Paint the Frankenstein green. Allow the green to dry and then paint the fingers black for the hair.
- Paint the vampire face a beige color (or this color). Allow the paint to dry and then paint the fingers black for the hair.
Frankenstein
1. Cut out two rectangular strips of felt and glue to the face for the eyebrows and mouth.
2. Glue on 2 googly eyes on top of the eyebrow felt piece.
Pumpkin
1. Cut out the eyes, nose and mouth out of black felt and glue on.
2. Cut out a stem from green or brown felt and glue to the back of the handprint top.
3. Curl a green pipe cleaner around a pencil and glue to the back of the handprint top.
Ghost
1. Glue on 2 googly eyes. We used one that was slightly larger than the other.
2. Draw on a mouth with black paint or a black sharpie.
Vampire
1. Cut out a triangle shape from red felt and glue to the back of the handprint.
2. Cut out a narrow triangle from white felt and glue to bottom of the triangle.
3. Glue on 2 googly eyes.
4. Draw on the mouth with a black sharpie.
5. Cut out 2 small triangles from white felt and glue to the mouth.
6. Cut out a bow from the glitter foam paper and glue to the bottom of the handprint.
We hope you have fun making these adorable Halloween handprint ornaments!
More Salt Dough Ornaments
See these glittery handprint salt dough ornaments. This is another fun and easy way to make handprint ornaments for Christmas!
You can also use cookie cutters to make these easy salt dough ornaments.
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