Tried & Tested Air-Dry Clay Recipe- No Baking!

This clay recipe is the perfect element to any crafting activity that allows your kids to get fully involved and wildly creative. There are a lot of air-drying clay recipes on the internet but this is one we have tried and tested. No baking required!

Once you have made the clay then the real fun starts. Create awesome creatures or clay molds of feet and hands. There are so many ideas & crafts to use this clay for! This recipe makes child-friendly clay from flour and salt that when left out in the open dries within a day. Once dry you can paint and add all the extra touches to make your artwork a real masterpiece.

• Child-friendly ingredients - 100% safe for kids to use

• No baking or cooking when making or setting the clay

• Dries really hard within a day or two

• Easy to paint or draw on the dry clay

How to make the Air-dry clay:

1. Mix 4 cups of flour & 1 cup salt in a large bowl.
2. Add 1 ¾ cups of warm water to the flour/salt mixture. (Even though it may look like the amount of water is not correct, it is.)
3. Mix the water & flour/salt mixture with a wooden spoon or use your hands.
4. Knead the clay dough for 10-15 minutes
5. Have fun making stuff!

*Keep the clay in an airtight container or closed plastic bag if you can’t start crafting right away. It lasts for about a week like this.

Pro-Tips from our team

• Make ¼ batch if you want less clay or are only doing a small activity
• The clay starts to dry around the edges so keep clay that you aren’t using in a container/bag.
• To prevent cracking when it dries make firm clay balls and snakes. The thinner the clay the easier it cracks.
• If the edges of your artwork start to dry & crack lightly dip your fingers in water and rub onto the clay.
• Use food colouring in the mixture to get coloured clay. (It does need quite a bit of colouring for the colour to come through properly.)
• Use a toothpick to make eyes and other features in the clay.
• Use a plastic placemat or wax paper under the clay while you are working with it for easy cleaning.
• Lay your finished artwork on newspaper to dry. Smaller items dry overnight while bigger pieces can take up to a week to dry so put them somewhere out of reach where they can’t be fiddled with.
• Paint and colour your artwork when it is dry. It is quite porous so it soaks up marker pens quickly- so be sure not to use your expensive markers on this. Painting is such fun but be careful not to drop the sculpture as it could break.
• Use wood glue to stick on googly eyes and pipe cleaners!