Salt Dough Footprint Olaf Christmas Ornament Tutorial

Olaf Christmas Ornament Made from Salt Dough Footprints

With Christmas approaching, it’s the perfect time to engage in some holiday crafting with the kids. Each year, I like to create a new ornament, and this year’s idea from Pinterest was simply too adorable to miss!

We’ll be making a Salt Dough Footprint Olaf.

First, prepare a batch of salt dough using the following recipe:

2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Salt
1 Cup Warm Water

Knead the dough until it becomes soft; the more you knead, the smoother it will be.

Preheat your oven to 200°F to dry the dough, or you can let it air dry. I opted for 2 hours in the oven, followed by several days of air drying, depending on the thickness of the ornament.

To achieve a blue background, I mixed blue gel food coloring into the dough, eliminating the need for painting later.

However, when the dough dried, it developed a whitish powder, so I ended up painting the blue color after all.

Once the dough is ready, roll it out to your desired thickness and press your child’s foot into the dough to create a footprint.

Be sure to press down on the toes for detailed prints.

Now, it’s time to wait for the dough to dry. Don’t forget to create a hole at the top while it’s still wet for hanging!

Once dried, start painting the background blue. After it dries, paint the snowman’s white body. I also added rosy cheeks to enhance Olaf’s character.

After the white paint dries, use the blue to add his mouth, and outline it, along with his eyes, eyebrows, hair, arms, and buttons, using a black Sharpie marker.

Don’t forget to paint his nose, and voilà! You’ve got a delightful keepsake ornament.

While many people hang these ornaments on their trees, my kids are older and their feet are rather large! Even my one-year-old’s foot seems too big for the tree, so I’ll be displaying them on the wall instead.

What is your favorite holiday keepsake to make with your children?

Merry Christmas and happy crafting!

Note from Heather at OurKidsMom: This craft idea was inspired by a pin from the blog I Heart Arts & Crafts. Check out her blog for more fantastic ideas!