Summer Salt Dough Sea Stars or Star Fish

I haven't used salt dough in years, but I saw these on Pinterest:
http://blog.chickabug.com/2012/12/starfish-salt-dough-garland.html

Which includes the recipe and instructions to make a garland of Sea Stars.
Salt Dough: Mix 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour, 1 Cup Salt, and 3/4 to 1 Cup of Water

Kids love working with any kind of clay so I think this will be a fun but also easy activity for my Beach Camp.

I mixed up a batch and experimented with creating the Star Fish. I used a ball of dough just like the instructions said and then flattened it and cut the shape. I shaped the star fish and then used a bamboo skewer to put the lines in the arms and the dot in the center. A straw to punch the hole for hanging and a toothpick for the dots.

I made one small Star Fish (about 1" or so) for a necklace.


I baked mine in a 200 degree oven for a few hours until they were dry. Once dry this dough is super strong!

Then instead of leaving it the natural color of the dough I decided to try a couple of different glitters.

The Starfish on the left is Mod Podge with fine glitter. The one on the right is spray painted with glitter spray paint in a multi color glitter.

The little necklace has been painted with acrylic paint in two colors of purple. Then a coat of mod podge and fine glitter. When that is dry a final coat of gloss mod podge to seal the glitter.

The last step is to pick out some twine or ribbon to hang or wear the star fish.

I'm sure the kids will make their star fish and then create some other fun ocean animals from their imagination for baking and painting. I can't wait to see what they create!