In general, these are ordinary dumplings with your usual, favorite filling. But what makes them unusual is that they are molded from colored dough! 🙂 It looks New Year’s, beautiful and appetizing, and tastes great. 😉 However, it’s worth telling about everything in order...

For the filling, you can take any options: potatoes with mushrooms or cabbage with mushrooms (as I had), cottage cheese or minced meat and fish. After all, from this dough you can make both colored dumplings and colored dumplings. Therefore, I will not describe the filling - it is a matter of taste and habits of each family. But the dough is a different story. 😉

Let's take:

for one type of test

1 egg;
0.5 tsp. spoons of salt;
a bunch of basil for green dough OR medium-sized raw beets for burgundy dough;
flour about 1 kg.

Of course, the water-flour ratio is approximate. The main thing is the very principle of preparing colored dough for dumplings.

if you want to try orange dumplings, you can squeeze the juice out of carrots, and instead of basil, try crushing spinach

Let's prepare green dough for colored dumplings

To do this, you need to rinse several sprigs of fresh basil, put them in a mixing container, pour in a dessert spoon of water and beat thoroughly with a blender.

In general, if my son was less picky about food, I would make the dough directly on such a mass, with pieces of greenery. 😳 But I decided that the colored dough was already a thorough experiment for a child who was accustomed to a traditional diet, and therefore I strained the juice through a tea strainer and diluted it with water to half a mug (about 180 ml).

This made the dough more homogeneous and a beautiful soft green hue. Interspersed with green pulp could have had their own specific effect. 😉

If you want to make the dough brighter, you just need to take more basil to dilute the juice in a smaller proportion. In my photo, the ratio of basil juice and water is approximately 1:2.

Add flour and start kneading the dough: first in a bowl.

Then knead it on the table until elastic.

the dough for dumplings and dumplings becomes more flexible and smooth if after kneading it lies for at least an hour in the refrigerator; Before you start making dumplings, take out the dough and let it warm up a little at room temperature

Burgundy dough for dumplings

I think experienced chefs have already guessed that burgundy dough is made from beet juice. For those who, like me, don’t have a juicer, the process won’t be much more complicated than making basil juice. 😀

Grate fresh beets on a fine grater, then squeeze out the juice directly with your hands. If the beets are juicy, there will be a lot of juice and you will get it without any problems.

As a true cook, my food is not thrown away or lost, and therefore the beet pulp turned out to be simply wonderful lean cutlets, the recipe for which I will share in the New Year 😉 😛

It is better to dilute beetroot juice with just a little water - because beets lose a little color when cooked.

In my photo, the juice has not yet been diluted with water, because I grated part of a large beet, squeezed it, and then, making sure that there was not enough juice, grated another piece of beet. Beetroot juice went into the dough, which was diluted in a ratio of 5:1.

Frankly, working with such colored dough is a great joy and pleasure!

Unusual dumplings - colored!

I came across the idea for preparing colored dough on the blog of an online friend. True, she used food coloring to create the color. But I am wary of adding dyes directly to food. It’s one thing to paint eggs in them for Easter, and quite another to add them to the dough for dumplings.

Therefore, for a whole year I “nurtured” the idea of preparing colored dough. And then, finally, it happened.

The most difficult thing was to make three types of dough and three combinations of dough and fillings. 😳 Initially, I intended to make green ones with potatoes and mushrooms, and burgundy ones with cabbage and mushrooms. Everything is simple and clear. 😀 But His Majesty intervened in the matter... No, not by chance. Son. 😀 He said that he doesn’t like dumplings with cabbage, and therefore wants burgundy dumplings with potatoes too. 😳

In addition, since there were doubts at all that he would eat colored dumplings, I didn’t make a lot of colored dough, and therefore I had to make regular, “white” dough. But I had a lot of fun - three colors came out with potatoes and two colors with cabbage. 😀 Now, the main thing is not to confuse them in the freezer! 😀 😂

The most interesting thing is that these dumplings differ, by and large, only in color - the taste of the dough is not too different from the traditional, white one. Although, of course, basil dough has a very subtle and light aroma of greenery. Beetroot dough does not have a distinct taste.

During cooking, the green dumplings practically did not change their color, but the beet dumplings faded a little. And if you cook them too long, they will color the filling. This is why I don’t recommend boiling colored dumplings in one water - it’s best to cook the white ones first (if you decide, like me, to cook three types of dumplings at once 😀), then the green ones, and only then the burgundy ones.

What else did you want to say? And the fact is that now, while there are still a couple of weeks before the New Year, it’s time to make unusual colored dumplings, preferably with the whole family (my son helped me roll out the round ones 😉), freeze them on the balcony, and then put them in bags and enjoy the most delicious ones at the New Year’s table , unusual dumplings. 😉

My son and I decided to make some more colored dumplings - green ones. 😛 It’s a pity that there is no natural product that would color the dough blue - my son really likes it.

Happy preparations for the New Year to everyone!

Unusual colored dumplings

By
Published: 2017-12-15
Total time: 1H
Calories per serving:
Fat per serving:
Ingredients: Thinly-sliced egg, water, flour, beets, fresh herbs
Price:
Directions:

How to prepare unusual colored dumplings that will decorate the New Year's table...

I would like to say a few words about the color test:

correctly made colored dough is an excellent alternative to expensive and sometimes harmful plasticine,
sculpting from such dough is much more interesting for a child, and mixing and creating new shades will make this process even more fun,
the use of bright colors has a beneficial effect on the child’s positive emotions,
the color contrast of individual details makes the craft visually more pleasing than dough clumsily painted with a brush.

Of course, hand painting has its considerable advantages! However, this becomes noticeable only when the child’s hand becomes stronger, fine motor skills begin to develop, and drawing skills emerge. In the meantime, I suggest using colored dough as the best option for the first step into the world of testoplasty.

How to make colored dough? What dyes should I use? You can go into more detail here. As you yourself understand, the main thing is that the dye does not harm the child. The most ecological and slightly exotic - natural juice!

Carrot, beetroot, you can come up with other options. Alas, making such colored dough is quite labor-intensive and expensive. Especially when it comes to large quantities.

Just for such a case, when you have a lot of children in your circle, and you intend to use a lot of colored dough, you can use dyes for the production of soap and candles. The dyes are sold in fairly large bottles and should last a long time. The only and, alas, the biggest problem is finding these same dyes. The fact is that they are sold, as a rule, from a warehouse and in small wholesale!

So, the most optimal ingredient in the recipe for colored salt dough remains ordinary food coloring. It is sold, as a rule, in church shops or in ordinary grocery stores.

Well, the last, personally acceptable option for me is gouache. Unlike acrylic paints, it is cheaper and more accessible. And given the variety of colors now on sale, the need to select and mix the desired color is eliminated.

However, I must note that this is a professional and, I repeat, personal opinion, and we are talking about children's crafts. And I think the saturation of this or that color is not very important here. Therefore, food coloring is the most suitable and safe for use in children's salt dough mugs.

Now about the recipes.

I will continue to adhere to the opinion that there are no definitive recipes! It all depends on the quality of flour, additives, and simply the temperature of your hands, which determines the softness of the dough. Therefore, you should not pay attention to the accuracy of the recipe.

Take the classic salt dough recipe as a sample: 2 tbsp. flour, 1 tbsp. salt, 250g. water.

Although I can’t resist making some small comments. You can use less salt - it makes the dough brittle. And I would use equal parts wheat and rye dough. The fact is that rye, although coarser, contains more gluten, and because of this quality the figure holds its volume better.

As you can see, it makes sense to experiment. Surely you will have your own, exclusive recipe!

And now a little about additives. Just as every self-respecting chef preparing his favorite dish has a couple of secrets, so every person who makes salt dough will have a couple of details that he will remember when preparing colored dough.

First of all, you should not overuse dyes! Do you think the resulting dough is too pale? Take your “pale” red dough for testing, stick a “pale” green cake on it, add two “pale” white balls, and in the center of each place a dot of “unsuccessful” black, add a stacked smile... See how funny the face turned out ? We just played on the contrast of colors! And too much saturation of the dough with dyes will spoil its structure.

One more thing. When we sculpt from simple dough, we do not pay attention to the remains of the dough remaining on our hands. But when working with colored dough, it can ruin another color. Therefore, three pieces of advice:

After kneading or eating one color of dough, try to wash or wipe your hands with a damp cloth. The same applies to the work surface. In general, use rubber gloves when mixing primary colors. This makes it easier to wash your hands.

After the main color mixture is made, immediately place it in cellophane. By the time you reach the last one, the first one will turn into a crust! Mixing colored dough takes time.
And lastly, and most importantly! When working with colored dough, feel free to use vegetable oil! To the recipe above, add at least a tablespoon. This, of course, interferes with subsequent drying. But it’s better to waste another day drying the craft than to ruin it with dirty stains.

By the way, after the figurine dries, it may become covered with a slight whitish coating. Don't be alarmed, cover it with varnish and the plaque will disappear.

Prepare your desktop. It is better to work with colored dough on a smooth, washable surface. Special plastic sheets for working with plasticine are perfect for these purposes. You can easily find them at any office supply store. Place containers of water and oil nearby. Think about what tool you will need.

Well, that seems to be all. We can start. Your imagination will tell you what to sculpt, or the lessons on our website. Good luck!

How to make salt dough?

I’ll tell you an open secret - in order for Testoplastica.ru not to turn into a personal blog, but to serve as a full-fledged website, you have to be quite active on the Internet. Including visiting many sites with similar topics. To my great surprise, I discovered a very frequently repeated question on the Internet: “Tell me the correct recipe for salt dough.”

To be honest, the question surprised me a little. Guys, we are not creating a collider! What’s good about testoplasty is that you don’t need to think anything of it. Mix flour and salt in a two to one ratio, add water. That's it!.. That's it? Not so. On one of the sites I counted fifteen(!) recipes for making salt dough! And most importantly, the review ended with the listing of recipes. This is probably what prompted me to write this article, in which we will focus not on numbers, but on the details and subtleties of preparing salt dough.

Briefing on testoplasty

Of course, we can’t do without numbers entirely. In addition, some people have confusion about units of measurement. Grams and glasses (not a bad disclaimer according to Erofeev :-)) are different volumes. One hundred grams of salt is almost two times less than one hundred grams of flour. And to prevent this confusion from happening in the future, let’s take the classic recipe as a basis. And from him we will start a conversation regarding additional ingredients and other tricks.

So, let's begin.

First of all, the flour should be ordinary. No baking powder, dyes or other flavoring additives! Usually the cheapest wheat flour is used. In contrast, rye has more gluten. Crafts made from such flour turn out to be rougher, but during drying they are less deformed and crack. If in the process of making a future craft I do not plan small and sophisticated details, I, as a rule, mix wheat and rye flour in equal proportions.

Salt - “Extra”. I read in one book that you can take rock salt and grind it in a coffee grinder. Well, let's try sea salt or, for example, bath salts. I repeat once again - no need to split hairs! We are not talking about rare earth metals now. “Extra” salt is more than available and is sold in any village grocery store. It is quite fine and dissolves well.

Water is ordinary cold water.

Let's move on directly to preparation and all kinds of additives.

Mix salt and flour. Some “experts” recommend dissolving the salt in water in advance. Like, in this way, the salt will dissolve completely and there will be no crystalline inclusions in the dough. In fact, we get a saturated solution with an incomprehensible precipitate. In addition, we cannot always guess the exact amount of water that we may need. And when making decorative tiles and tiles, the amount of salt is almost doubled! The water will definitely not absorb that much salt. Therefore, let’s not reinvent the wheel and continue.

Add additional ingredients.

To make our crafts more durable after drying and final processing, add one or two tablespoons of wallpaper glue.

If you add potato starch, the dough will become very soft and pliable. From such dough it is good to create delicate, exquisite works with many small details. Although, if you want to add starch, it would be better to boil the paste and use it instead of water. It should also be remembered that starch makes the craft more fragile. Therefore, it is important not to overdo it. For the amount of flour given in our recipe, a heaped tablespoon will be enough.

By the way, while writing this article, I had the idea of using cornmeal. After all, it contains a very large amount of starch. I’ll definitely try it and write about this topic in the future.

Mix the dough.

Mixing thoroughly, add cold water. You can use all kinds of mixers and food processors, but only at the initial stage. Although in my humble opinion :-), this is unnecessary.

The degree of readiness of the salt dough can only be determined by hand. If the dough crumbles, add water. If, on the contrary, it stretches too well and sticks to your hands, then there is too much water, and you need to add a little flour. Roll into a ball and make several indentations in it with your finger. If the dough does not spread and holds its shape, it is ready.

During the kneading process, I recommend adding vegetable oil. Now the dough will not stick to your hands, dry out quickly and become crusty while working. However, it should be remembered that the best is the enemy of the good! If there is a lot of oil, the dough will get dirty, and final drying can take a very long time. For our recipe, a couple of tablespoons is enough.

For the same purposes, some use glycerin and even baby cream. I won't say anything about the cream. But if you plan to exercise with a child, you can add some pleasant fragrance. For example - several vanillin crystals. If you add dyes, more detailed information can be found in the article “Colored Dough”.

Wrap the finished dough in a bag and put it in the refrigerator. In this form it can be stored for quite a long time. By the way, after a few hours of such storage, the remaining salt will completely dissolve. And the remaining components will enter into a final reaction with each other. The main thing is not to forget to knead the dough again before work. As a rule, I prepare it in the evening, and actually do the modeling the next day.

So, let's summarize.

There are no exact, ideal and uniquely correct recipes! Water hardness, quality of flour and salt, even temperature can affect the final result. So, if you are just starting to be interested in testoplasty, use the recommendations above. Don’t be afraid to experiment, and, quite possibly, over time you will develop your own, exclusive recipe for making salt dough!

For those parents who are afraid to give plasticine to a too young child, but want their child to learn how to sculpt from childhood, salt dough has been created. Previously, only a mother could prepare this for her child, but today its factory version has taken a full-fledged place next to other products in children's toy stores. Although this mass was not invented yesterday, for many it still remains a bit of a mystery.

Peculiarities

The positive role of modeling in the process of child development has long been beyond the slightest doubt - it has a good effect on both the physical and mental components. At the same time, it is quite obvious that the earlier you start, the more impressive results could be achieved. At the same time, plasticine, the main material for children’s creativity today, is not recommended for use by children under 3 years of age, and in the future its use is desirable in the presence of adults.

In this context, dough can be an excellent alternative for young children. Made at home, its composition differs little from what is used for home baking, except that it is prepared a little differently, and almost always with the addition of a huge amount of salt, because This is the only way to guarantee that the child will not pull the modeling mixture into his mouth.

However, even if it does, it’s okay, because the product is made exclusively from edible ingredients that do not require much chewing and are easy to swallow.

Industrial production somewhat expands the range of ingredients - the composition may include additional plasticizers, dyes, and even glitter. Typically, manufacturers focus on the same theoretical suitability for food, although sparkles are unlikely to be beneficial to a child’s body. However, not all companies monitor this point so carefully, selling softer types of plasticine under the guise of modeling dough.

Since we are talking about consistency, it should be noted that modeling dough has another important indicator for kids - it is very soft. This mass does not need to be kneaded first; it is immediately ready to create masterpieces. At the same time, this feature does not allow the material to maintain an overly complex shape with small details. The mixture is very afraid of open air - it dries out in it, losing elasticity and becoming brittle. If desired, finished products made from it can be preserved by special drying or baking.

What is it for?

First of all, modeling dough helps a child develop fine motor skills and train finger muscles, and also greatly contributes to the development of imagination and creative inclinations. However, only adults see the purpose of the mass this way, while the kids themselves perceive children’s dough as another toy from which they can create various crafts, which they can then be proud of if the final result is successful.

This material is not very suitable for sculpting large volumetric figures with small details, since it holds its own weight rather poorly. For this reason, it is much more often used for sculpting small-sized figures, creating various compositions from them, and also as a raw material for creating three-dimensional paintings.

If, when focusing on achieving the first two goals, you still have to think about whether your plan will work out or not, then you can look for inspiration for paintings almost anywhere. Subjects are most often taken from nature - children sculpt simple landscapes, animals, flowers, the same sun. However, you don’t have to stop there - if you have talent, at later stages you can move on to making serious images, or even characters from your favorite cartoons. Fairytale castles, fairies - even Shrek and the Fixies!

You also need to understand that different types of crafts are assessed differently by the children themselves. Kids usually want toys, so they are more interested in three-dimensional figures. Compositions and paintings are already real creativity, it is not intended for play, but it will help to gain recognition, respect and praise from others; therefore, such sculpting results will be more interesting to older children.

How to properly knead with your own hands?

Many housewives, realizing that the recipe for the mixture is actually very simple, prefer not to buy the mixture, but to knead it themselves. This is very easy to do, given that the ingredients included in the composition can usually be found in any apartment, and if not, they can be bought literally everywhere. Making the mass yourself will be much cheaper than purchasing it, and in terms of properties it will not be inferior to many varieties of store-bought products - you just need to know the correct proportions.

If you are far from a master, but still want to try making homemade plasticine yourself, pay attention to the best recipe in terms of simplicity. The materials used for preparation will surprise you with their simplicity - the mass is made from flour and salt, and also contains ordinary water. The exact proportions differ due to the fact that the final mass can be of different thicknesses, but usually they are indicated as a glass of flour and half a glass of salt per half a glass of water, and then experiment.

For a more elastic state, add a tablespoon of vegetable oil, and an extremely improved version is prepared with citric acid (two teaspoons).

However, for modeling, not ordinary dough is used, but choux dough. The described ingredients are not just mixed, but placed in a saucepan over medium heat. The exact time is never specified because pots and stoves vary greatly, but if the modeling mass has thickened and become homogeneous, it’s time to pull it out.

During the heating process, the mixture must be stirred to achieve homogeneity of the mass, but even after removing it from the pan, it is carefully kneaded again on a flat surface sprinkled with a small amount of flour. The finished dough holds its shape well, does not stick to your hands and does not contain lumps.

Of course, homemade types of plasticine do not end with just this recipe. In fact, you can have a thick notebook and fill it all with different plasticine recipes, but the most popular is another recipe that involves alternative ingredients and made with starch. To do this, two glasses of ordinary baking soda are mixed with a cup of corn starch and half a glass of water, after which the procedure is similar to that already described above. There is no salt included in this recipe, so small children can simply eat this type of mixture.

For greater durability of crafts, they also use a recipe with PVA glue - products made from it are somewhat reminiscent of papier-mâché. A glass of finely ground salt is mixed with the same amount of flour, into which a mixture of about half (or a little more) a glass of water and a tablespoon of glue is gradually poured. You should stop adding water at the moment when the future “paper” dough stops absorbing it. After this, the mass is thoroughly kneaded, since the grains of salt do not have time to dissolve in it, and the recipe does not require heat treatment.

How to make colored dough at home?

Making salt dough at home doesn't require much effort, but you want the result to be like Play-Doh - bright and beautiful. To do this, dyes are added to the dough - this is possible both at the preparation stage and if there is already a ready-made colorless mass.

To achieve the desired effect, you can use special food colorings, which are sold in many culinary stores. They are liquids that are mixed into water during the cooking process (if it is in the recipe), and after cooking, such a dye can be mixed into the colorless dough. Experts point out that this way you can color the dough easily and quickly, but the result may not be very impressive - the mass will take on a shade rather than a color, and for the normal brightness of the purchased dye you need a lot.

By the way, you don’t have to buy dye, using all the same natural ingredients. Most often, fruit and vegetable juices are used in this role: beets give red, carrots orange, and so on.

You can squeeze this juice yourself or buy it; alternatively, any drinks of the appropriate color will do. To give the dough a yellow tint, various mild seasonings are often used, and coffee or tea is used to make the dough brown. However, it is worth considering that such a substance is not a specially selected dye at all, so the result may turn out to be even more faded.

You can color the dough not with food coloring, but ordinary gouache- the diagram looks exactly the same. At the same time, it is not at all difficult to get such paint, because it is used for creative learning in children's educational institutions, and is inexpensive, but the color gives a very bright one, which is what we need. However, it is noted that such an ingredient liquefies the mass very much, Therefore, adding a certain amount of flour is mandatory when using this method.

How can I paint the finished product?

Coloring dough as a raw material is suitable for creating simple crafts, but complex compositions with a large number of multi-colored details are easier to make from a single-color mass, which then, after drying or baking, will be painted on top. At the same time, the specifics of the material dictate its own characteristics of the coloring procedure.

People with extensive experience working with modeling dough indicate that it is best to paint finished crafts with acrylic paint, because only This way you can guarantee that the product will not get dirty and the colors on it will not be smudged. It is permissible to use watercolor, but since dry dough is very afraid of water, the paint should be mixed extremely thickly - this will also help it not to spread.

When painting with watercolors, there is still a high risk of smearing the contours, so the figure must be Be sure to varnish after painting. Gouache is also used for coloring finished products, but in order for it to adhere normally to the surface of the figurine, it must first be mixed with a small amount of PVA glue.

Varnishing, by the way, is recommended for all types of dyes, because it can protect the surface from accidental ingress of water, and bright colors from fading. Liquid varnish is absorbed into the craft, which requires repeated varnishing and is a procedure that takes many days, but the result is bright, not just shiny.

Thick varnish is also used, but is still less common.

How to dry?

When dried, dough crafts last much longer, but in order for them not to fall apart over time, it is necessary to withstand the procedure. It is worth noting that there is no exact description of it anywhere - it all depends on the specifics of the source material and the exact drying parameters.

Play dough hardens even just on open air- Beginners usually rely on this method. The main disadvantage of this type of drying is the drying time: the dough dries on average one millimeter deep per day, so a voluminous figure of even a small size can take weeks to dry.

You can speed up the process by organizing drying on radiators, but there is also a risk here - due to the heterogeneity of the consistency (soft dough inside, hard outside), the product is likely to deform.

For this reason Masterpieces are better baked, and a microwave is not suitable for such purposes at all - you only need to use an oven. There are many detailed descriptions of the process indicating the exact duration and temperature, but in fact no one knows exactly how long it takes for a dough craft to dry in the oven - it depends on both the shape of the craft and the shape of the oven.

It is even noted that the baking sheet can also influence the procedure - black provides more effective drying, and therefore it is necessary to either reduce the temperature by twenty degrees or shorten the baking period.

In general, baking lasts several hours at a temperature that gradually increases from 50 to 150 degrees. If the dough has been pre-colored, the upper temperature limit is 125 degrees, since more intense heating will destroy the dye. It is not forbidden to extend the baking process over several days. You can check the conditional readiness of the product using the sound it makes when gently tapping on the surface - the solid filling responds with a ringing, cheerful sound.

How to store?

Despite the fact that baby salted play dough can be kneaded at any time, mothers still prefer to find a way to preserve the mass for a certain long time, rather than re-prepare it every time the child has a corresponding need. It should be noted here that such a mixture will definitely dry out and lose elasticity, but there is a difference - after a month, or after a couple of days.

The most obvious method of mass storage, also used by industrial manufacturers, is hermetic storage. The store-bought product is sold in special jars with a tight lid, and if there are any left in the house from a previous purchase, it is best to use them. Alternatively, you can tightly wrap the dough pieces in cellophane or polyethylene, however, this method is less reliable.

Storing in the refrigerator can also help prevent drying out, since cold in principle slows down most chemical processes.

If you need to save the finished product, then, first of all, you need to carefully protect it from water, since even a small drop will leave a very noticeable mark. To give strength to the figurine, it is best to bake it - then it will become quite hard and not very susceptible to external mechanical influence. Additional varnishing of the baked product will protect it even from accidental moisture, so you can be proud of your creation for a long time.

Edible dough for pie decorations

If a child makes really interesting figures, and does it from potentially edible material, you can use this in home cooking. If the baby is old enough to understand that playing with dough products won’t last long anyway, he will most likely be glad to have the opportunity to pleasantly surprise everyone by taking a direct part in creating the pie. This does not mean, of course, puff pastry, or even ordinary pizza dough, but the dough, which you can make with your own hands, molds perfectly, and most importantly, it amazes with its taste!

The first recipe is very simple - mix half a glass of Nutella with the same amount of flour, adding a tablespoon of powdered sugar. The finished mixture is much thicker than regular Nutella, which allows it to hold its shape, but still tastes very much like the original ingredient.

An alternative option is to melt three marshmallows with a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter in the microwave (no more than 10-15 seconds), then mix the mass thoroughly and add the same tablespoon of powdered sugar. The amount of the last ingredient must be increased if the finished mass sticks to your hands. It should be noted that figures made from this mass dry very quickly and keep their shape well.

For children who cannot eat gluten, there is a gluten-free recipe. You will need a cup of special instant rice porridge, and the same amount of starch, to which another half cup of fresh apple puree and two or three tablespoons of vegetable oil are added for plasticity. The mixture is kneaded until it becomes homogeneous, but if the result is too sticky, you need to add rice porridge little by little until this effect disappears.

What to do if your play dough is dry?

There is a general rule according to which dough that has dried completely cannot be restored - only a mass that is just beginning to lose its elasticity can be restored. At the same time, due to the difference in composition, the methods for restoring the mixture differ, although there is one pattern - You always need to add a plasticizer.

If the dough contains vegetable oil, you can try adding a small amount of it to a piece of the mass and knead thoroughly again. For most varieties of homemade water-based plasticine, a small addition of water will also be an effective help - for this, the lump is kept under running warm water, and then thoroughly squeezed out and once again dumped in flour (or starch).

However, the material as a whole is short-lived, and it cannot be restored endlessly.

If you see that the plasticity is decreasing, perhaps you should just make a new mass, and if the duration of use causes disappointment, next time pay special attention to the storage features of the finished product - ensure more reliable tightness and cold.

Probably the easiest thing you can make from play dough is toy food. It’s relatively easy to make; if damaged, the child can always make a new one, but imagine how much more interesting it will be for him to play if even such details are not imaginary, but real.

By the way, for interesting three-dimensional crafts, outstanding skills in the field of modeling are also not always needed - here, rather, a creative approach and imagination are useful. For example, in the photo you can see that such a cute caterpillar on a flower can be made from fairly simple “balls” and “pancakes”.

If the child has learned to give the material any form, and is ready to show patience in the creative process, it’s time to move on to paintings. Although they will look very childish, this in no way detracts from their cultural value.

This video tutorial will help you make your own salted play dough.

Hello. Before continuing the conversation about working with salt dough in children's clubs, I want to say a few words about colored dough:

correctly made colored dough is an excellent alternative to expensive and sometimes harmful plasticine,
sculpting from such dough is much more interesting for a child, and mixing and creating new shades will make this process even more fun,
the use of bright colors has a beneficial effect on the child’s positive emotions,
the color contrast of individual details makes the craft visually more pleasing than dough clumsily painted with a brush.

How to make colored dough? What dyes should I use? You can go into more detail here. As you yourself understand, the main thing is that the dye does not harm the child. The most environmentally friendly and slightly exotic – natural juice!

Carrot, beetroot, you can come up with other options. Alas, making such colored dough is quite labor-intensive and expensive. Especially when it comes to large quantities.

So, the most optimal ingredient in the recipe for colored salt dough remains ordinary food coloring. It is sold, as a rule, in church shops or in ordinary grocery stores.

Now about the recipes.

Take the classic salt dough recipe as a sample: 2 tbsp. flour, 1 tbsp. salt, 250g. water.

As you can see, it makes sense to experiment. Surely you will have your own, exclusive recipe!

By the way, after the figurine dries, it may become covered with a slight whitish coating. Don't be alarmed, cover it with varnish and the plaque will disappear.

Well, that seems to be all. We can start. Your imagination will tell you what to sculpt, or the lessons on our website. Good luck!

Greetings, dear parents, readers of our blog! Recently, an old technique for developing a child’s fine motor skills has been revived - dough modeling. And today I want to tell you more about salted play dough. You will find recipes with photos at the end of the article.

Modeling is a great opportunity to express yourself or relax for adults, as well as develop fine motor skills and imagination for children. Modeling with children is fun and interesting. The big advantage of modeling from salt dough is that it will cost you much less than other materials for children's creativity.

For modeling, you can use pottery clay, plasticine, and ordinary dough when making cookies or dumplings together. Children love to make and roll balls from such materials. Salt dough is used exclusively for creativity, because it is inedible.

Since ancient times salt dough has been used to make:

Charms;
Kids toys.

Now this type of creativity is becoming popular again; the dough can be used to make:

Decor items;
Figures, toys;
Paintings;
Baby's hand or foot prints.

It’s no secret that adults love to do this type of modeling, preferring salted dough to clay or plaster; they sculpt entire paintings that decorate the house or are given as gifts:

2. Why salt dough?

Many people are surprised to hear that the dough must be salted in order to make something out of it. The fact is that you can sculpt something from any dough, because it is always plastic, but not from any dough you can make crafts that will be stored for a very long time without losing their appearance.

The secret material - salt - cements the dough, so the products hold up after drying. The main ingredients of this test:

Flour;
Salt;
Water.

In addition, you can add other components, depending on what you want to get. This can be glue, oil or paint and can be added to any recipe. But the main thing here is salt, which should be finely ground and without impurities (iodine).

3. Salt dough recipes

There can be many recipes, let's look at a few of them. You need to choose the simplest flour, without additives, and the water should be very cold.

3.1. Regular salt dough

Compound:

Wheat flour – 1 tbsp;
Salt – 1 tbsp.;
Water – 0.5 tbsp.

How to make modeling material from these ingredients?

You need to mix flour and salt, then add water little by little, quickly mixing everything with your hands.
You don’t need to knead the dough for long; if it turns out too tight, add a little more water.
If the dough is sticky, add a little flour. It all depends on the flour, so sometimes more water may be needed, sometimes less.

3.2. Salted dough with rye flour

Compound:

Rye flour – 1 tbsp;
Wheat flour – 1 tbsp;
Water – 0.5 tbsp;
Salt – 1 tbsp.;
Oil – 1 tbsp.

Rye flour will give the product a soft brown color, especially if you dry it in the oven. Rye flour alone is not used, as the dough will be very tight and difficult to mold into something. The oil will give the dough elasticity and will not stick to your hands.

3.3. Salt dough with glue

Compound:

Flour – 2 tbsp;
Salt – 1 tbsp.;
Dry wallpaper glue – 2 tbsp;
Oil or glycerin – 4 tbsp;
Water – 125 ml.

First you need to combine flour and salt, then add glue diluted in water.
Mix everything and add oil.
If the mixture is sticky, add a little flour. In addition to wallpaper glue, PVA glue is used, this is done for the strength of the material.

How to make colored dough?

To tint the dough, you can add food coloring or natural juice, adding drop by drop and mixing with the finished mass. In addition, you can paint the finished craft after it has dried using art paints.

4. Crafts made from salt dough

As soon as the baby turns 1-1.5 years old, he can be introduced to the test as a way of play and development.

Another advantage of the test is that a child will not be poisoned if he tries it, and it does not smell like plasticine. This natural material is an excellent tool for making crafts. The dough can be stored in a bag in the refrigerator for several days.

A child of any age can use the salt dough modeling technique, gradually complicating the task. For beginners, sculpting small, simple figures is best.

The child can do the following:

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin;
Cut out figures from it using molds (from construction sets, cubes or cookie cutters);
Make sausages and balls;
Combine several elements into one figurine (attach buttons, sticks, beads to the figurine);
Make hand or foot prints on the rolled out dough;
Paint dried figures or crafts with paints (watercolors, a mixture of gouache with PVA glue, acrylic paint) - under adult supervision.

The child can stick different elements onto a thin layer of dough, creating pictures. Also, ready-made flat figures can then be glued onto canvas and inserted into a frame, resulting in a work of art.

5. Drying salt dough products

There are the following types of drying:

on air;
in the oven;
on battery;
in the sun.

One way or another, the products need to be dried well. If the layer of dough is thin, it will take less time. Three-dimensional dough pictures or figures need a long drying time.

The surest and easiest way is to air dry, preferably in a warm place, but not in direct sunlight. For a product up to 1 cm thick, it will take 4-7 days. Then check by tapping the surface with your finger. If the sound is ringing, the product is dry; if it is dull, it needs to be dried further.

It will take about one day to dry on the radiator; in summer you can put the product on the windowsill.

When drying in the oven, you need to set the temperature to low (50-150 degrees) with the door open. It will take about 3 hours for a thin product.

After drying, the craft can be painted or varnished to protect the surface from damage and brittleness.

You can watch a video on how to easily and simply prepare salt dough here:

Develop together with your kids, sculpt and create for your own joy! Subscribe to updates and share the article with friends on social networks! And I'm waiting for you on our website again.