We love anything simple and easy to do at our house–if it’s too complicated it doesn’t happen around here! That’s why I’m thrilled to have my friend Erica from What Do We Do All Day? here sharing a simple (and sparkly) cornstarch salt clay recipe. I bet you have all the ingredients you need to make it right now!
Kids love to make little souvenirs and sculptures out of clay or dough. This cornstarch salt clay recipe is super easy and makes a nice, permanent alternative to play dough. It uses inexpensive household ingredients and we were surprised that the salt created a lovely, shiny sparkle! It’s hard to see in the photos, but it’s there!
Cornstarch salt dough is a great after school activity, a play date idea or an easy art project for an art club. It’s so easy to make a batch of clay ahead of time and it will stay soft if placed in an air tight bag.
Cornstarch Salt Dough Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 cups salt
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 2/3 plus 1/2 cup water
- Optional: food coloring
Instructions:
- Mix salt and 2/3 cup water, and food coloring if desired, in a medium sized pot.
- Heat about 3-4 minutes.
- Remove from heat and add cornstarch and 1/2 cup water.
- Stir quickly.
- If the mixture seems too thin you can heat, while stirring to thicken.
When the cornstarch salt clay is cool, either store in air tight container for later or start sculpting!
For added fun:
Provide kids with a selection of beads, sequins, or other small objects for decoration. Be sure to press hard into the clay.
Use cookie cutters to create shapes.
Use utensils like forks and potato mashers to create textures.
Place finished sculptures aside to dry. Depending on the thickness of the sculpted object, this may take several days. We found that some items cracked slightly, but it was minimal.
Dry sculptures can be painted with acrylic paint or decorated with markers.
Cornstarch salt clay art objects dry very hard and make great gifts for grandparents!
Erica (aka “Mom and Kiddo”) is a Stay-At-Home Mom to two very rowdy boys, ages 4 and 8. She created the site What Do We Do All Day? where she blogs about children’s books, indoor activities for kids and everyday learning ideas. You can connect with her on Facebook, Pinterest or Google+.
I have an old recipe for cornstarch and salt clay. It specifically says NON iodized salt must be used. I am not sure why. Do you think it makes a difference? I can tell you the snowmen I have are more than a decade old and haven’t changed or discolored one but. I also add iridescent glitter to the dough when making snowmen! ⛄️
That is so interesting! I’m not sure why it would make a difference, but I wonder if that is why yours is in such great condition! I’ll have to Google a little to see.
I believe I read the iodized salt prevents clumping from occurring and clumping is needed for clay.
Thank you!
At first, mine turned out smooth and kind of soupy… I had just enough cornstarch to follow this recipe, so I didn’t have any extra to make it thicker. But I did have all-purpose flour, so I added a 1/2 cup along with 1/2 teaspoon grapeseed oil and it worked out perfectly!
Also, the salt I used was the iodized salt…
Mine didn’t turn out really good, it didn’t work at all!
What was wrong with it? Maybe I can help figure out what went wrong!
Mine turned into a solid instantly when i added the cornstarch and water im not sure why maybe because of the low altitude i live in im not sure i followed the recipe exactly ?
My guesses would be either the heat was too high or you need to add more slowly while you mix it in. Hope that is helpful! If not let me know and we can figure it out!