How to Make Clay Animals for School Projects or Just for Arts and Crafts Fun

Younger kids can use animal cookie cutters to cut shapes out of salt dough.

A classic way to make model animals, both for school projects and for fun at home, is to form them out of salt dough. It is cheap and easy to make and simple to work with. If you want to save your animal creations, you can bake them or let them dry. If not, you can simply mash them up and store the dough in an airtight container. For color, add food coloring to separate batches of salt dough or paint your model after it has dried.

Things You'll Need

• Salt
• Flour
• Water
• Large bowl
• Spoon
• Toothpick (optional)

Instructions

1. Mix two parts salt, two parts flour and one part water in the bowl. Stir the mixture well and knead it until it is smooth.

2. Form a piece of dough into the main shape of the animal's body, excluding the head and limbs. For example, an alligator's body may be roughly the shape of a flat rectangle, while a dog's might be closer to a cylinder.

3. Add limbs by rolling long, skinny pieces of dough, attaching them to the body and bending them into the right shapes.

4. Form a head by molding another lump of dough into the right shape for your animal. You may want to attach it by means of another piece of dough for the neck.

5. Add details such as wings, hide texture, fins or a beak by pressing on little extra pieces of salt dough or by carving details into your animal with the toothpick.

6. Preserve your model by allowing it to dry in open air or in a 200-degree oven. The drying time will vary with the size and thickness of the model.

Tips & Warnings

• To make bigger models, form a "skeleton" with heavy-gauge wire and mold the salt dough around it.

References

• Easy Child Crafts: Easy Salt Dough Recipes Every Child Can Make
• Scholastic; Activity Plan Mixed Ages: Animal Sculptures; Risa Young