Salt Dough Valentines Craft – Heart Beads

This Salt Dough craft for Valentine’s day is great for making with kids. Using coloured salt dough you can create these heart-shaped beads which you can then thread on some string. Perfect for making patterns, jewellery or just for the fun of it with your little ones helping with. So here you go our simple Valentine’s Day Craft, Salt Dough Heart Beads.

Salt Dough Valentines Hearts

These salt dough hearts for Valentine’s Day are made with an adaption of our microwave salt dough recipe so they are very quick to make. Don’t worry if you don’t have a microwave you can use the classic salt dough recipe and add the lavender and food colouring to that and then oven dry or air dry the hearts. But this does take much longer to do.

Valentine’s Salt Dough Recipe

• 1/2 cup of table salt
• 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of water
• 1 cup of plain flour
• 10 drops of lavender essential oil (optional)
• Red food colouring and Purple Food Colouring

How to Make your Valentines Salt Dough

1. Place the salt and flour in a bowl and mix.
2. Add the lavender to the water and stir if you wish your hearts to be scented.
3. Pour the water into the flour and salt mix.
4. Mix together until combined.
5. Turn out onto a floured surface or pastry board and knead until smooth.
6. Using a tooth pick add a little red food colouring to half of the dough.
7. Knead until well combined (you may want to wear gloves to avoid dying your hands red).
8. Then repeat with the purple food colouring with the other half of the dough

How to Make your Salt Dough Bead Hearts

1. Using the prepared dough above roll out some of the red dough to around 1/2cm thick.
2. With a heart shaped cookie cutter cut out as many hearts as possible.
3. Lay on a microwavable plate.

   

4. Then with a skewer or knitting needle make 2 holes at the top of the hearts like the picture.

   

5. Place in the microwave.
6. Microwave for 10 seconds then turn over your hearts.
7. Repeat Step 6 10 seconds at a time until mostly dry.

TOP TIP > If you microwave has a lot of steam coming out from the water evaporating out of the salt dough remove the hearts and plate and allow the steam to escape. The steam in the microwave will prevent the hearts from drying easily.

Now repeat Steps 1 to 7 with the purple dough.

Check out our selection of Valentine’s Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers for some selections to add to your book box to read aloud.

Using the Homemade Heart Buttons for Threading with Preschoolers

I bought a set of needles that although sharp enough to go through fabrics aren’t too sharp and have been using them with my children. With some yarn and this needle, it’s easy to thread through the hearts and connect them together.

As needle eyes are notoriously difficult to thread I generally thread it for my preschoolers and then leave the activity for them to do themselves.

Once they have threaded you could use the hearts to make a garland similar to how we used our Salt Dough Stars at Christmas.

Or why not use them in a pattern activity for maths as we did with our Salt Dough Gingerbread Men.

More Salt Dough Valentines Crafts

• Love Necklace made with Scented Salt Dough Letter Beads.
• Scented Salt Dough Hearts a simple decoration to make for your home with kids.