Salt Dough Purim Symbols

We had a school holiday and the kids were so excited to spend the day Purim crafting! We made these simple and cute Salt Dough Purim Symbols for all kinds of fun Purim-inspired imaginary play. The salt dough was a great sensory experience, easy to make and decorate, and fun to use in a variety of ways.

What You’ll Need

2 cups salt
2 cups flour
1 cup water
Paint
Paintbrushes

Putting It Together

1. Make the salt dough by combining the flour, salt and water. Knead the dough until it’s smooth. Add additional flour or water to get a consistency that is coarser than playdough but not too sticky.

2. Let your children create whatever Purim symbols however they want. I set the stage with our favorite groggers, cook book open to the Hamantaschen page and a couple sweet Purim books.

To make the hamantaschen, we used a rolling pin to roll out the dough then a water glass to make the dough circles. Just like making real hamantaschen! The kids were pretty excited. We rolled smaller pieces of dough into balls for the filling, then pinched the sides into the triangle shape as you would with real hamantaschen.

For our groggers, we rolled long thin pieces of dough for the stick part then patted rectangular shapes for the grogger.

We each made a crown to represent Queen Esther by rolling out the dough and cutting out the crown shape with a butter knife.

I made a Star of David by cutting out two triangles.

I also tried to make a dollar sign to represent tzedakah … but that didn’t turn out so well. Oh well! It still served as a talking point with the kids!

3. After shaping your salt dough bake it at 200 degrees for 2-3 hours. I checked every 10 minutes once we hit 2 hours.

4. Once dry, your kids can paint and decorate the Purim symbols however they wish!

5. After the paint has dried, the possibilities for Purim-inspired play are endless!

Finished and Loving It!

The kids had so much fun making these Purim Salt Dough Symbols. All three kids enjoyed the sensory experience of manipulating the dough. The older two were also excited to create something notably Purim-related out of the dough. It’s such an easy activity; the only challenging part is waiting for the symbols to dry!!

Once finished, there are so many options for Purim-inspired play. We’ve talked about bringing some of the items to our play kitchen and making pretend Mishloach Manot baskets. And a Purim sensory bin for the toddler is definitely on the list!

Looking for fun ways to celebrate and teach about Purim? Check out our other Purim crafts and activities:

“Boo Haman!” Fine Motor Skills Activity

Purim Character Clothespin Dolls

Want more information about Purim? Check out the resources below. You can also follow my Purim board on Pinterest for lots of craft and activity ideas!

PJ Library’s Purim Page

Reform Judaism’s Purim Page

My Jewish Learning’s Purim Page

Bim Bam’s Purim Page

What crafts do you do to celebrate Purim? How do you introduce Jewish holidays into open-ended, creative play?

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