What to give your grandmother for March 8th? Gifts from grandchildren are the most expensive, so grandmothers will be happy about everything. It is especially important that the baby takes part in preparing the gift. Today I want to offer one of these gifts and I’ll show you how to make it salt dough for baby's footprint.
When I saw this idea for the first time, it captivated me. No, it’s not new, but the simplicity of its implementation immediately prompted the desire to repeat it for myself. I hope it inspires you too.
Necessary materials
- salt– 1 glass
- flour– 1 glass
- water– 1/2 cup
- rolling pin for rolling out dough
- kitchen knife
- acrylic paint
- tassel for drawing
How to make footprints on salt dough
1. Prepare salt dough
Mix salt (1 cup), flour (1 cup) and water (1/2 cup). Mix everything well to form a homogeneous dough.
The child can also help in this process. He will really enjoy kneading the dough with his little fingers.
2. Cut out the heart
Roll out the dough with a rolling pin to make it plate approximately 1.5-2 cm thick.
Cut out the heart
Place the heart on a baking sheet. I also lined it with baking paper, but this made the bottom of the heart uneven. It would probably be better to just put it on a baking sheet without paper.
I would be glad to hear your comments on this matter if you repeat the idea.
3. Footprints
With bare children's feet we make an imprint on the heart.
Footprints
We got it right the first time. Although the child practically does not stand still, in those seconds that we need to leave an imprint, he stood still, enthusiastically watching the process.
Using a spoon, make an inscription on the heart.
4. Baking in the oven
Preheat the oven up to 100 degrees and place a baking tray with a footprint for baking for 3 hours.
5. Paint the footprint
After I took the print out of the oven, I let it cool down for a while and then carefully separated the baking paper.
The original recipe says that you can paint the heart almost immediately, but I have it it sat for a couple more days.
For painting I took acrylic paint. It dries quickly.
Painting the footprint
First I painted one side, and at the end of the day I painted the other.
Painting the footprint
You can also involve your child in this process. Even if it turns out less neatly, the main thing is the process. I haven't decided on this yet. We are now at an age when a child wants to do everything himself, he would not let me help, and at some point he himself could simply drop and break our print.
I am very pleased with the result. Only now you need to find deep photo frame to put our gift in it.
I didn't make a hole for hanging on purpose. The heart turned out to be not very light and could simply not withstand its weight, fall and break.
Please leave your review or comment. I'm very interested in your opinion!
Children's casts made from puff pastry
This method is considered the cheapest, but you should immediately take into account that the material is short-lived. The dough may crumble after just a few months, and high humidity in the room will ruin it even faster. Of course, you can extend the life of the impression by covering it with varnish, but it will still last you only a few years longer.
Making casts from plaster
You can immortalize your baby's hand and foot in the form of a cast using regular plaster, as in the photo. But this method is not ideal either. For example, if your baby suffers from allergies, you cannot use regular building plaster. In addition, the casts turn out to be too bulky and heavy, and there is simply nowhere to put them later. However, we’ll tell you how to make it yourself.
First, dilute the plaster with water as indicated in the instructions. Take a mold (for example, a round cup or small saucepan), cover it with cling film and pour in the plaster.
When the mixture begins to harden, make an imprint. It is better to lubricate the baby’s foot or hand with rich cream or sunflower oil in advance. When the cast has completely hardened, you can easily remove the handle from the mold.
Plastic casts of children's hands and feet
This is the most progressive method that will help you make a cast of a child’s hand and foot at home.
First you need to make “rough” prints from salt dough. Some recommend making them from plastic, but this material has a rather unpleasant odor and a hard consistency, so it is unknown how your baby will react to them. PICTURE 5
The salt dough print should be thoroughly greased with oil. Take the plastic, crush it into a thin plate and fill all the holes so that it exactly repeats the shape of a child's hand or foot.
When the mixture has hardened a little, it can be removed and cleaned of excess dough with a cotton swab. Cut out the cast and leave it to cool somewhere on the windowsill.
Now there are even special kits on sale that help you make impressions with your own hands. They immediately provide the container and mixture for the imprint. Therefore, if for some reason you do not trust the methods we propose, you can use the set and make yourself an excellent keepsake.
Video on how to make casts of arms and legs with your own hands
There are many ways to capture memorable moments of your child’s childhood: photographs, first drawings, growth charts, joint crafts, etc. One of the most popular ways to preserve warm memories is to make casts of the baby’s hands and feet. And you can make the basis for them with your own hands.
Believe me, your child will be pleased to look at his hands and feet in the future. And you will experience warm feelings looking at this beauty. Many people now make prints to order and keep them for years. But if you make the material for the impressions yourself, the result will not change at all.
And making the material is as easy as shelling pears. Roughly speaking, we need cool salted dough.
What do we need?
- flour (1 cup)
- salt (1 cup)
- warm water (1\2 cups)
- paints
- coating varnish
How to make casts of children's hands and feet?
Mix flour and salt and carefully pour in water. The dough should not stick to your hands. If it still sticks, add a little more flour.
Roll out the base and give it the desired shape (circle, square, star, etc.). If you have something to cut out, you can make a base of an unusual shape.
Now we leave a hand or foot print in the center. You can use a toothpick to write the name and year.
Place the product in the oven, preheated to 100 degrees, and leave to bake for 3 hours. If the layer is very thin, you can reduce the temperature to 80 degrees. When the time is up, we take out the craft and leave it to “rest” overnight.
The next day we paint the cast with any paints. When the paints have dried, we fix them with varnish (preferably 2-3 layers) so that the product will never deteriorate.
Currently, many parents make casts of children's hands and feet with their own hands. Such a memorable print looks very cute and will allow you to remember the wonderful moments of early childhood for many years.
DIY casts of children's hands and feet
To make casts of arms and legs with your own hands, you don’t need experience, you just need to carefully read the instructions. As a rule, kits contain all the necessary materials and tools. In addition, they often provide the opportunity to make several casts, because working with a child is completely unpredictable, and whether the perfect contour will turn out depends largely on our small models.
How to prepare for making a three-dimensional cast of arms and legs with your own hands:
- take care of the little model’s good mood;
- you can use sleep time;
- Residue from the mixture after making may be difficult to wash off, so wear clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty;
- the participation of two adults is necessary - one to take care of mixing the ingredients, the second to hold the baby and distract him;
- if you have touched the sides or bottom of the mold, you can pour plaster into it and then smooth out any imperfections with sandpaper;
- the time during which the form completely hardens depends on the temperature of the water used - the colder the water, the longer it will harden; the warmer the water, the faster the material will harden; room temperature of water is optimal;
- Make sure the containers are the right size for your baby's feet or hands.
How to prepare a child to make a cast of children's hands and feet with your own hands
How to prepare molds for casting casts for children with your own hands
To make an impression with your own hands, mix the mold powder with water in any container and pour it into a closed plastic container; you can mix the mixture directly in the same container. Measure ingredients accurately as poor ratios can affect the final result. You can use a test sample, which is sometimes included with the kit, to have information about the curing process.
Wet the skin of children's feet or hands thoroughly so that they slide out of the hardened mold easily.
Thanks to this manipulation, your child will be able to get used to the temperature of the mass, in addition, we will minimize the risk of air bubbles that worsen the quality of the product. Guide your baby's hand so that it slides accurately and accurately into the prepared paste.
Don't worry if your baby moves his arm. The beginning of the hardening process will show a change in the color of the paste, and this is the moment at which the child should not make very sudden movements. After hardening (about 1-1.5 minutes), remove the handle. To avoid holes in the set mold, guide your child's hand without touching the bottom or sides of the container.
How to prepare and pour plaster
Pouring plaster should not last longer than 5-6 minutes.
- Prepare a plastic bowl, measure out the required amount of water and plaster in the appropriate proportions. Always add powder to water, not the other way around;
- Pour the plaster of Paris into the water slowly, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches the consistency of very thin yogurt. Mixing too intensively and for a long time can lead to the mass beginning to harden already during pouring into the mold. Also, stirring too much can cause bubbles to form. If you see bubbles on the surface, tap the container a few times to release them;
- Initially the plaster is very watery, but after a while it gently begins to thicken. The plaster is ready when it reaches the consistency of pancake batter. Then, pour a small amount of plaster into the mold and carefully move the container in different directions so that the mixture fills exactly each hole;
- After filling the form 1/3, tap the container on the table surface;
- Pour in the rest of the mixture in batches;
- Leave the container to harden for several hours.
How to avoid air bubbles in plaster?
Air bubbles spoil volumetric impressions; as a result, the plaster does not reach the fingertips, and the impression will not completely replicate the child’s hand. This problem mainly occurs with hand impressions, since the fingers on them are longer than on the feet, and the plaster does not always flow well into these holes.
You can use the following methods to avoid this:
In what position is it most convenient to make 3D impressions?
0-5 months. For very young children, the procedure should be carried out in a supine position, as for feeding.
5-12 months. Place the baby sideways on one knee with the parent, legs should hang freely. Make an “airplane”: the parent holds the baby on his stomach with his hands, the arms hang freely. In a sitting position: the parent sits the child on his lap, facing the table.
After hardening, carefully sand the product with sandpaper. After painting with paint, this treatment will become invisible.
How to make casts of arms and legs with your own hands
The resulting casts can be prepared in different ways:
You can add photographs of the baby to the composition at the age when the print was made, and also come up with a background with a thematic plot - for example, a footprint on sea sand.
The resulting souvenir will delight you, and you will be able to enjoy this memorable and beautiful thing for many years.
Hello dear readers, I’m finally ready for a new article!
It's been a year and a half since my last inspiration!
A lot of new things have happened in my life, the most important thing is that my son, Leonid, was born (in January 2014), my second child!
Now he is already 6.5 months old. And I started working with casts again!
How to make a cast of a hand and foot with your own hands from plaster? We answer: “Very simple!”
There are a lot of kits in stores for making them, and on the Internet there are a lot of different tips on how to do it!
In 2011, 3 years ago, when I was making casts of Danochka’s hand and legs, I first bought a ready-made set. I did everything according to the instructions. I mixed the mixture, put the sleeping child’s hand into the plate, and my Danulya took it and woke up and threw all this liquid over me! While I was washing myself, the second jar of gel dried out. Bottom line: I wasted my money!
Then I went to my favorite Internet and saw many recipes for making children’s casts from plaster.
I want to tell you the simplest and easiest way to make casts of your favorite arms and legs, which I liked the most!
To make children's casts you will need: 
For the test:
- half a glass of water,
- two tablespoons of sunflower oil,
(butter is needed to make the dough more elastic)
- one glass of flour,
- one glass of salt
(preferably fine, salt is needed to make the dough “obedient” so that it holds its shape better)
The volume of my glass is 150 milliliters.
To make the casts themselves:
- plaster,
- water.
Where can I get plaster for making children's casts?
1. Can be bought at the construction market.
2. You can buy any children's creativity set, for example, the “Sculptor” set.
I still have this set from 2011 :-)
First we make the dough.
Mix salt and flour in a plate, add oil and water, mix everything.
The dough should be dense! If the dough turns out liquid, add more flour.
Divide the dough in half and roll it out with your hands.
You need to get two small round but thick (2-3 cm) cakes so that the cast is more voluminous. 
We take the little one and make footprints and handprints!
The first time with Dana I made the right arm and left leg.
The second time with Leonid, I made the right arm and right leg.
It’s better to do it as you did the first time, for example, with your left arm and right leg or vice versa.
I think it looks prettier this way!
Next, take a disposable glass, pour water, add plaster and mix everything.
I don’t specifically write the proportions of water and plaster, since I made the liquid plaster “by eye.”
The consistency should be like sour cream or kefir.
We pour liquid plaster into our children's prints and wait. 
When the plaster has hardened, remove the dough and our casts are ready! 
The remaining dough can be easily removed with ordinary water.
All that's left is to decorate them!
You can color the casts however you like, I used pink and silver nail polish!
First I painted the children's casts with pink and then with silver varnish.
This is what happened. 
Next, I found a beautiful frame on the Internet, added a photo of the child and signed the age - I printed the photo!
I bought a regular photo frame, included a photo, a pregnancy test, a bracelet and a tag from the maternity hospital!
I glued the finished children's casts onto the glass with double-sided tape!
So a beautiful frame with children's casts is ready for a long memory! 
You can add baby's first clothes, pacifier and much more.
For comparison, I’m posting a photo of my first frame with casts! 
Now we have this beauty at home: 
Children's casts can be made at any age, but to make it easier to attach them, it is better when they are still tiny.
The sooner you make your impressions, the easier it is to attach them to the photo frame!
Happy creations!
P.S. : The only thing I still don’t understand is how to remove air bubbles from the plaster?
There are small dots on the casts.
Maybe you need to stir longer?!
