Each of us in childhood was engaged in modeling. We made Easter cakes and built sand castles, sculpted from plasticine. There is another material that is well known to older people. Salt dough modeling for beginners is a rather interesting lesson, which will be discussed in this article.
What is the use of modeling
Both in kindergarten and in elementary school, kids are taught to sculpt various characters, animals and objects from plasticine. Why is this done? Modeling is a very useful activity. Thanks to her, children train their fingers, developing motor skills.
In addition, modeling allows you to develop a child’s imagination, and also improves mechanical memory. But it is not necessary to use plasticine, which is not cheap today, and often has aggressive additives in its composition. Replace this material with salt dough, which is easy to prepare at home. Moreover, the figures from the dough are strong, they can even be painted.
Making salt dough for beginners is a fascinating process, but it requires a lot of patience. But crafts will please loved ones. You can make various souvenirs and even fridge magnets from the dough. Where to start? The first step is to make the dough itself.
Cooking salt dough for modeling
It is very good when parents teach children such an interesting activity as modeling from salt dough. The recipe for the test is very simple, so every mother can make it herself and please her baby. To prepare you will need:
- flour;
- salt;
- PVA glue ;
- water.
In fact, there are many different recipes, but we offer the simplest and most economical one.
Take a bowl and pour 2 cups flour and 1 cup salt into it. Add glue (10 tablespoons of flour should have 2 tablespoons of glue). Mix and gradually pour water. The level of density of the test is better to adjust yourself. It should not be very liquid in consistency. If there is a lot of water, just add flour.
The result should be a dough uniform in composition, which creases well, but does not stick to hands.
We make a fruit basket
Modeling from salt dough for beginners involves the creation of simple shapes. Even a baby can handle this. Let's start with a simple fruit basket. It is recommended to lay oilcloth on the table.
First, we will roll in our palms a large, even ball of dough. Now let's make a sausage out of it, rolling around the table. It should turn out one diameter along the entire length. Add a circle from it and connect it. It turns out a kind of round frame. Press it with a plank so that it is flattened. It will be the basket itself and the pen.
With a ruler or a knife, we make indentations in the form of stripes on the test. So our basket will get a relief and will look like a wicker.
We make fruit from rolled balls of dough. We will have pears, apples and grapes in a basket. Making apples is simple, they are almost round, you just need to make indentations above and below. The pear needs to be pulled up a little and pit also. Do not forget about the cuttings. We roll small balls for grapes.
Now it remains to glue the fruit to the bottom of the circle from the dough, so that it seems as if they are lying in a basket. Here you have the first craft!
Modeling from salt dough paintings: master class
From salt dough you can sculpt not only different figures, but also make pictures. Cardboard is usually used for the backing, but you can also take a sheet of plywood. Distribute a uniform dough layer on the substrate.
We form the details of the picture. In our case, these are roses and leaves. We make petals of flowers from thin plates of dough. On leaflets we draw veins with a sharp object. Glue each figure to the picture. If the dough has dried up in some places and does not want to stick together, you can simply moisten this place with water.
Such a painting after painting will look very beautiful. A molding of salt dough for beginners (for children 3-4 years old) is an excellent way for children to develop not only imagination, but also the perception of the color scheme.
Drying dough products
There are many ways to dry crafts. In the warm season, it is better to put them in a lighted place. In the open air, the dough will dry for at least 12 hours. Although, of course, this time depends on the size of the figure. When salted dough is made in kindergarten, the items are left to dry until the next day.
At home, you can dry the crafts in the oven. However, one must be very careful that cracks do not form on the figure. The temperature should be low, otherwise the dough may burn. After drying, the crafts need to be cooled, and then you can start painting.
Paint crafts
Salt dough molding for beginners includes painting the figures. We will do this with the help of paints. You can take watercolor or gouache, but it is best to use acrylic paints. They have bright colors and dry quickly. We also need brushes of different sizes.
Paint should be applied carefully, trying not to get out of the borders of the color. Such an activity, of course, will appeal to the child. However, parents should understand that the baby can get dirty, and take it easy.
So we learned what is modeling from salt dough, and how to do it yourself. Now you can keep your baby busy. By the way, some adults also sculpt figures and souvenirs, and then use them as original gifts for their friends and relatives.