The Simple DIY Salt Dough Heart Garland You (And Your Kids) Will Love

Some of the best DIYs and projects involve little hands, wouldn’t you agree?

I was trying to come up with a fun craft for me and my daughter to do one evening because her love language is helping me with all the things — cooking, cleaning, projects, and especially baking.

And I was also trying to think of something we already had all the supplies for. Because it becomes less fun when a project turns into errands and money spent, am I right?

That’s when it hit me — salt dough!

So simple. So easy. So fun and messy for little hands. And we had all the things. I figured we could make some kind of cute heart garland to hang up in the girls’ rooms. Done!

Then I began digging around for a heart-shaped cookie cutter, and would you believe me if I said in the collection of 10,382 cookie cutters we have stashed throughout the house, we don’t have a heart?

Lucky for me, my daughter’s play kitchen is better stocked than mine. Toy cookie cutter for the win!

So once we found all the materials, we got to work!

THE SIMPLE DIY SALT DOUGH HEART GARLAND YOU (AND YOUR KIDS) WILL LOVE

HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL NEED…

• Salt dough (flour, salt, and water)
• Orange essential oil (optional)
• Cinnamon (optional)
• Nutmeg (optional)
• Heart-shaped cookie cutter
• Twine
• Straw (to punch holes out of the hearts)

SALT DOUGH HEART GARLAND DIRECTIONS

Start by preheating your oven to the lowest temperature setting. We set ours to 170 degrees Fahrenheit. Then line a couple of cookie sheets with some parchment paper.

Next, mix your dough! You will need…

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup salt
• 1 cup water
• 10 drops orange essential oil
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Combine your flour and salt, then add in your water slowly, mixing until the dough is well combined. You don’t want it to be too watered down — you want it to resemble cookie dough — so keep that in mind as you add your water in!

Once your dough is well combined, add in your essential oil and spices, kneading well with your hands until it’s incorporated throughout.

Then you can start rolling your dough! Just like with cookies, I keep a little extra flour on hand to coat my hands in and to sprinkle on the dough before I roll it out. It makes it easy!

Next, simply cut your cookies into hearts, use the straw to poke a hole in each where you want them to hang on the twine, and set them on the cookie sheets.

Bake for one hour at the lowest setting. Then flip them and bake for a second hour.

Allow them to cool down completely, then you can start hanging them up on your twine!

I just strung mine right on the twine, but you can always tie them on too so they face the front! So many options with these cute little salt dough hearts!

Plus — they work as a little mini air freshener with all the orange and spice additions! Win-win!

What do you think? Will you give this a try for Valentine’s Day? The best news is you can use any cookie cutter shape and make this garland for any holiday or occasion you’d like!