Last updated on October 24th, 2023
Inside: These clay pumpkin keepsakes are made using a salt dough. A fun hands on fall craft for your little one and a cute keepsake for mom!
Clay Pumpkin Keepsake
These clay pumpkin keepsakes not only are super adorable but are SO much fun to make. Your toddler will have a blast playing with the clay (kind of like play dough!) and helping to create these fall keepsakes.
What You Need for Clay Pumpkin Keepsake
- 1 cup salt
- 1-2 cups flour*
- 1/2 cup water
- red, yellow, and blue food coloring dye
- parchment paper
- rolling pin
- pizza cutter
How to do Clay Pumpkin Keepsake
Start by mixing salt and flour. *The flour amount will depend greatly on the brand of flour you choose.
Add in water and mix until dough forms. Add in more flour as needed until the dough is no longer sticky.
Next, add in your red and yellow food coloring until you get a rich and vibrant orange color.
Form your dough into a ball and have your toddler help you roll out the dough using a rolling pin on parchment paper. We used a play dough accessory rolling pin so it was small and light and easy for him to manage.
Once your dough is thin, flat, and smooth, use your pizza cutter and cut out a circular shape. *Save some scraps!*
Next, use your fingers to smush the dough at the top’s center edge and bottom’s center edge to form a pumpkin.
Help your toddler stamp their hand into the pumpkin to create a handprint.
While you are adding the finishing touch to the pumpkin, let your toddler play with some of the extra dough. They will have fun using the rolling pin and squishing the dough.
Using some of the leftover scraps from cutting your dough into the circular shape, add some blue and a little more red food coloring until you get a brownish-green color. This will be your stem!
Shape your stem and pinch it onto the top of your pumpkin.
Bake on parchment paper on a cookie sheet at ~160-200 degrees F for 2 1/2-3 hours. Once pretty dry from the oven, set out on a cookie rack to dry and cool completely.
*Alternatively, you could skip the food coloring and just paint your pumpkins once they are cooked and dry!
If you’re looking for more fun fall ideas, click here for more posts.
Love this idea! Couple of things I struggled with…1.)My girls are 2 and 3 and one match wasn’t enough to do one hand each.
2.)I couldn’t make green ish color for the stems 😂
How breakable is this? Any suggestions for a clear topcoat to go over it with to preserve it better?
I am curious too… Modge Podge? Maybe, or like a veneer (I have some in a spray bottle) but I would rather hear what’s worked before I ruin a keepsake.