Use this recipe for salt dough to make simple candle holders, a pretty and easy Diwali crafts for children.
Salt dough candle holder Diwali craft
Will you be celebrating Diwali with your children next month? I think observing festivals from many different cultures is a wonderful way to introduce kids to the wider world. The festival of lights is taking place on Wednesday November 11th 2015 and a creative way to mark the occasion by making some salt dough candle holders.
We started by mixing up a batch of our easy salt dough recipe. One cup water, two cups flour and two cups salt and you’re done. (You can download this recipe, and more play dough recipes and ideas, in The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book.)
Then we took a ball of salt dough each to make our candle holders. The children used their thumbs to press out a hollow in the centre of their candle holder, making sure it was the right size to fit our tea candles.
We pressed some sequins into the dough of some of our candle holders, and then baked them all at Gas 1/2, 120C, 250F for about 3 hours. Using a fish slice/spatula makes it easier to pick up them up and place them on the baking tray.
Once the salt dough candle holders were cool we painted a layer of glitter paint over the surface of the sequined ones, to add some more shimmer and help hold the sequins in place.
On our other salt dough candle holders we painted a layer of gold paint and sprinkled on gold glitter while the paint was still wet.
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maryanne @ mama smiles says
19/10/2011 at 5:36 pmThose candleholders are great! They look fun to make, too!
Emma Thompson says
19/10/2011 at 8:32 pmmy daughter made hers today @ playgroup
Candace @ NaturallyEducational says
20/10/2011 at 3:22 amWhat a wonderful way to celebrate! We will probably have Indian food that week, anyway, since my husband was away for my birthday and I always pick Indian food on my birthday!
maggy, red ted art says
21/10/2011 at 8:27 amOooh my son made similar ones last year at nursery and LOVED every minute of it! And Salt Dough is so wonderfully versatile. Love your final ones, they look great!
Maggy
Carissa says
21/10/2011 at 9:13 pmThose candleholders are great! Great craft for the kids, love it!
The Monko says
25/10/2011 at 9:23 pmYey Diwali, I looked at Rangoli but couldn’t think how to do it with a 2 year old. The lentil on plates is a great idea. I may give it a go. Thanks
Cathy @ NurtureStore says
25/10/2011 at 10:16 pmHi The Monko – we’d love to see a picture if you do. 🙂
Angela says
17/10/2013 at 9:01 pmGoogle rangoli pattern and print off, let 2 yr old put glue in 1 area only and sprinkle with coloured sand r glitter, repeat process until pattern is filled, remember to do 1 part at a time. Brill results I been doing it for years with my minded toddlers.
Kerry @ScienceSparks says
29/10/2011 at 1:43 pmWhat a pretty gift they would make! Thanks for linking up!
pppppp says
06/11/2012 at 9:16 amthose look great
Cathy @ NurtureStore says
07/11/2012 at 8:40 pmThanks 🙂
Smiles says
26/09/2013 at 8:48 pmHello
This is an excellent idea.But can you please tell me that how did you paint the glitters on it?And also is it safe to bake it in the oven with the beads on?
Thanks
Cathy James says
27/09/2013 at 2:12 pmHi Smiles. We used a paint that had glitter in it and painted all over the top of the candle holder with it. We didn’t use any beads, but rather plastic sequins, and the oven is at a very low temperature.
Diwali 2013, Diwali 2013 wishes, Diwali 2013 SMS says
30/10/2013 at 7:08 amThere is a previous question regarding this subject but I wanted to ask it again because all instructions I have read for making salt dough models say that they should be varnished afterwards. Surely varnish is highy flammable and not suited to objects which will be used as a candle holder? Yet there are many examples given on the internet about how to make a holder, all which mention varnishing the item first.
Does varnish lose its flammableness when it dries?
Laughing Kids Learn says
26/11/2013 at 11:15 amWhat a lovely way to learn about another culture. Thanks for the inspiration Cathy! 🙂
Erin says
11/12/2013 at 3:12 pmHow many candle holders were you able to get out of one batch of dough?
Cathy James says
11/12/2013 at 5:03 pmHi Erin, we made five, but we used the rest of the dough for other projects. I think you’d get at least 8, maybe even 10?
selena says
20/10/2014 at 8:41 pmwhat does Gas 1/2 mean?
Do I bake at 250F?
I’m worried the sequins will catch fire in the oven…
selena says
20/10/2014 at 8:42 pmI found the answer! What a great project! I can’t wait to try this!
Cathy James says
21/10/2014 at 10:49 amYes, Gas 1/2 is the equivalent of 250F. Our sequins were fine, but you have any concerns then you can always glue the sequins on after the candle holder has been baked.