DIY salt dough handprint and footprint heart crafts make a great keepsake and gift idea for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Grandparent’s Day!
Salt dough handprint crafts make wonderful homemade gifts that kids can make at home or in the classroom for parents and grandparents. And this salt dough craft is even better because it has a handprint and footprint inside the heart! In other words, this DIY salt dough craft tutorial teaches how to make the salt dough in the shape of a heart with a child’s handprint and footprint stamped inside.
Salt dough handprint and footprint heart crafts are perfect gift ideas for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparent’s Day, or Christmas! Scroll down to see the step-by-step instructions, or look at this list of homemade gifts and Valentine’s Day Crafts kids can make for moms, dads, grandparents, teachers, and friends!
When my daughter was two, we wanted to make a salt dough craft in the shape of a heart for my husband (her father) for Valentine’s Day. The adorable handprint and footprint heart keepsake crafts you see in these photographs are the keepsake salt dough crafts we gave to my husband and my father (may he rest in peace) for Valentine’s Day in 2015. But these adorable salt dough handprint and footprint craft ideas would also make excellent gifts for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparent’s Day, or Christmas. Or try watercolor SURPRISE heart art!
DIY Salt Dough Craft and Kitchen Supplies
First, collect the salt dough craft and kitchen supplies listed below. Next, please scroll down to see the salt dough recipe and learn how to make it.
Salt Dough Keepsake Heart Craft Supplies
- Flour
- Salt
- Hot water
- Acrylic Paint
- Paint Brushes
- Mod Podge
- Old towel
- Children’s (babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarteners) hands and feet
Related: Shell Frames with Handprint Keepsake Gift
Salt dough Heart Kitchen Supplies
- Measuring cups
- Mixing bowl
- Mixing spoon
- Cookie sheet
- Parchment paper
- Cooling rack
- Straw or chopstick (optional)
Related: Thumbprint Heart Magnets
Salt Dough Recipe and Instructions
First, gather the craft and kitchen supplies from the lists above. Next, use the salt dough recipe and step-by-step instructions to make salt dough. And finally, scroll down to see step-by-step instructions to turn the salt dough you make into a heart-shaped keepsake gift with a handprint and footprint stamped inside!
Easy Salt Dough Recipe
This salt-dough recipe was enough to make the two large pink and red salt-dough hearts shown in the photographs, with a bit left over to make another small salt-dough heart that I turned into a homemade hang tag for dad’s Valentine’s Day gift. (When the DIY salt dough is completely dry, you can write on it with a paint pen.)
- 4 cups flour
- 2 cups salt
- 1 1/2 – 2 cups of water
Related: Heart Art Salt Painting
How to Make Salt Dough for Crafts:
- Mix salt and flour in a mixing bowl.
- Slowly add water (you may not need it all).
- Mix flour and water until the consistency of play dough.
- Take it out of the bowl to knead on a breadboard (covered with a light dusting of flour) for 3-5 minutes.
- If the dough is too sticky, add a bit more flour, and if it’s too thick add more water.
- Place the salt dough mixture back into the bowl, cover it with a towel, and set aside to rest for 15-30 minutes.
Related: Personalized Painted Heart Candle Holder
How to Make a Handprint and Footprint Salt Dough Heart Keepsake
This salt dough creation is a lovely heart craft kids can make for mom, dad, or grandparents. Homemade baby keepsakes like these handprint and footprint crafts are always a hit with parents and grandparents. Treasures like these homemade gifts are fun to make with babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarteners at home or in the classroom for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and/or Christmas. Make one (or two) today!
Related: Four Season Handprint and Fingerprint Tree
1. Make salt dough.
- Use the salt dough recipe and the instructions in the section above to make some homemade salt dough before moving on to the next step.
2. Form the homemade salt dough into giant hearts.
- Cover a baking tray or cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Form two large hearts out of the salt dough directly on the parchment paper and cookie sheet. (They don’t need to be perfect.)
- Children love to help make salt dough crafts, and this heart craft provides a fun sensory experience for the developing toddler, preschooler, and kindergartener.
3. Stamp a footprint into the salt dough heart craft.
- Lay an old towel down on the floor and place the cookie sheet with the salt dough heart crafts on it. (Sitting a child on a footstool on the towel can help make this easier.)
- Invite a child to sit on the towel (or step stool) facing the cookie sheet to make a footprint in the salt dough heart.
- Tell them that you will gently take their foot and help them stamp it into the salt dough heart as far over to one side as possible to leave room for the handprint, so they know what to expect and can help you make it happen.
- Do your best to calm wiggly babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarteners before taking one of their feet to help them stamp it in the salt dough heart.
- Dip the child’s foot into flour before making a footprint in the heart to ensure it doesn’t stick when you press it into the salt dough.
- Use the towel to remove excess flour or salt dough on the child’s foot.
4. Add a handprint to the salt dough heart keepsake.
- Use the opposite hand to make a handprint next to the salt dough footprint. In other words, if you made a print with the left foot, use the right hand to make the handprint and vice versa.
- Coat the child’s hand in flour before making the handprint in the salt-dough heart to ensure it does not stick to the salt-dough craft.
- Use the towel to remove excess flour and salt dough from the child’s hand.
5. Make a hole in the top of the heart to hang the salt dough handprint and footprint keepsake craft (optional).
- Use a straw or chopstick to drill a single hole in the middle of the top of the salt dough heart crafts so that they can more easily be hung, if desired.
6. Allow the salt dough footprint and handprint heart keepsake crafts to air dry overnight.
- The size and thickness of these salt dough heart crafts make it necessary to allow the salt dough hearts to dry a bit before cooking them. Allow the salt dough handprint and footprint crafts to dry overnight before placing them in the oven.
7. Bake salt dough heart crafts.
- Bake salt dough heart crafts in a low-temperature oven at approximately 200 F for at least 1-3 hours, sometimes a bit longer.
- Please take the handprint crafts out of the oven if the salt dough heart starts to brown, even if they are not finished.
- Sometimes salt dough crafts need longer than a few hours to cook, depending on the craft’s size and thickness, and often must be taken out of the oven before they are done. This is fine; they will slowly cure and dry out over the next several days, or sometimes weeks, depending on your climate.
8. Place the footprint and handprint heart keepsake crafts on a cooling rack and allow them to harden and cure.
- Take the salt dough handprint and footprint crafts out of the oven and let them cool, harden, and cure on a cooling rack before painting them.
- Put them somewhere they can continue to dry out safely and keep an eye on them.
- Salt dough crafts can take several days, and sometimes weeks, to completely dry out, depending on their size and your climate.
- We like to place them on a towel on a wooden cutting board covered with another towel in a warm, dry place.
9. Paint and personalize DIY salt dough keepsake crafts.
- Make sure the giant salt dough hearts are thoroughly dry before painting them.
- Paint the heart and the handprints and footprints in any color you like, we used red and pink, but any color would look great!
- Kids of all ages love to paint salt dough crafts. Recruit them to help!
- Don’t forget to write the child’s name and date on the front or back, along with any personal message or poem you would like to include. (You can write on the salt dough with paint pens when it is dry.
10. Paint (or spray) painted salt dough crafts with varnish to seal and protect (optional).
- Use a foam brush to paint salt dough crafts with Mod Podge to seal and protect them, or use a spray varnish (optional).
Related: Thumbprint Heart Necklaces
Salt Dough Handprint and Footprint Heart Crafts: Step-by-Step Photo Tutorial
Related: Slow Falling Heart Sensory Bottle
Handprint and Footprint Salt Dough Heart Craft
Handmade gifts are always a hit with friends and family. A handprint and footprint heart craft made with salt dough makes a great gift idea for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Grandparent’s day! You might also enjoy this list of homemade gifts kids can make.
A fingerprint love bug card goes well with this salt dough keepsake gift, and we have several cute card message ideas and slogans to help you personalize your gift for almost any occasion, including Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Grandparent’s Day. We even have love bug title and phrase suggestions for thank you cards and missing you cards. See them all–>HERE!
You may also like this amazing collection of Valentine’s Day crafts and gift ideas kids can make!
We hope you enjoy creating this salt dough heart craft for someone you love. For even more ideas, look at this list of Heart Art Project Ideas.
Learn more about Rhythms of Play HERE!
what is the mod podge for?
Good question Elizabeth. Mod Podge is a glue based sealer. Using it to seal and protect the salt dough heart with handprint or footprint is optional.