School’s (almost) out, so get crafty with this home-made salt dough

School's out for the summer so that means getting your arts and crafts on mamas.

The school hols are happening people, so why not impress the kids with your make n' do skills? Yes, we know that you could just buy some ready-made modelling dough but making and creating with this home-made salt dough is much more fun than a trip to the shops. Salt dough also has a major advantage over other modelling clays: when it dries and hardens, your smallies can paint and keep their creations. It's super-easy to make, and you don't need many ingredients... Ingredients: Flour Salt Water A bowl A spoon Food colouring (optional) Clingfilm or tupperware box Directions: 1. Put two tablespoons of flour into the bowl. Then add one tablespoon of salt. There should always be twice as much flour as salt - e.g. f you want to make more salt dough, you can add four tablespoons of flour and two of salt. Mix well. 2. Add water, little by little and stirring as you go - stop when you notice that the texture is similar to that of plasticine. Knead with your fingers. If you want your salt dough to be a particular colour, you can add two or three drops of food colouring into the water and stir well. 3. Form a ball with your dough. You'll know it's the right consistency when the mixture doesn't stick to your hands. 4. Place the dough ball into a tupperware box (or wrap it in clingfilm) and let it cool for about half an hour in the fridge. 5. To keep your kids' magical creations, you can bake them in the oven at 180C. The baking time will depend on the size and thickness of piece. Alternatively, you can let them air dry for two days. 6. Once hardened, they will be ready to paint, glitter, or varnish. If you have any left-over dough, you can keep it in the fridge.