These pebble plaques use salt dough as a base for this fun craft for kids!
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On my Pinterest feed I regularly see photos of beach vacation keepsakes, where kids have placed seashells into salt dough to make a plaque. As we don’t have any beach vacations planned any time soon, I decided to make our own version – with pebbles!
For the salt dough:
- 2½ cups flour
- 1 cup salt
- ¼ cup bulgur wheat or other grain*
- 1½ cups water
Combine all the ingredients together until a dough has formed. Add more flour if too wet, more water if too dry.
Split the mixture into four sections. Roll each one into a ball then flatten them into a wide burger shape. Place them on greased foil-lined baking trays or silicone mats. Preheat the oven to 275F. Invite your child to get creative with some pebbles (I got a big 32oz bag of tiny pebbles from the dollar store – but you could use rocks from your garden, or those from a scavenger hunt, or vacation. And of course Amazon sells them!)
I started with a spiral design and my son did a random pattern.
I then used pebbles to make his initial “F”, and he thoughtfully made an “M” for Mommy! We made sure all the pebbles were firmly pushed into the salt dough, then I baked them for 2.5 hours. They felt fairly firm after that baking time, but I left them to dry further overnight.
My husband happened to be using varnish for another project, so I borrowed some and gave each plaque a layer. I really wanted to put them in the garden as stepping stones, but had no idea how the salt dough would hold up outside if it rained. Would a layer of varnish be enough? Or would the dough just disintegrate?
I put one of the plaques outside to test it. When I checked an hour later – it had gone! Presumably nabbed by a very confused squirrel! So although these look lovely outside, maybe keep them inside if you have squirrels. Or rain. 🙂 They’d make great gifts, too!
