Easter decorations made from salt dough

Decorative magnets for Easter

Submitted by: S. Stark, Uster, Switzerland

Online since: 26/02/2026

Easter time is crafting time! Working with salt dough is a wonderful way to create beautiful springtime DIY projects. With just a few ingredients and a bit of creativity, you can quickly make unique decorative magnets for Easter. Salt dough offers countless design possibilities and is perfect for crafting with children. Once dry, you can paint and decorate your creations and display them however you like. These homemade salt dough pieces make beautiful Easter decorations. They are also great as heartfelt, one-of-a-kind gifts made of salt dough.

Materials needed

For your magnetic Easter decorations, you will need the following materials:

Salt dough or salt dough mix
Cookie cutters with Easter motifs (bunnies, flowers, etc.)
Acrylic paints
Felt in various colours or other decorative elements
Neodymium disc magnets, e.g. type S-12-01-N or S-12-02-N
Glue, e.g. UHU MAX REPAIR

Prepare and roll out the salt dough

Making your own salt dough requires only a few simple steps. However, you can also buy salt dough conveniently online if you are short on time or want to skip the preparation. Since I opted for the latter, I have omitted the salt dough recipe from these instructions.

Once you have mixed your dough, you can start rolling it out. I rolled my dough to a thickness of about 2 cm so that the shapes would be sturdy and not become brittle after drying.

Cut out Easter motifs with cookie cutters

Now it's time to use those Easter-themed cookie cutters! After you have rolled out the salt dough, you can start cutting out the shapes. When crafting with salt dough, this is a quick and easy way to shape different motifs. Let your creativity run wild! I chose a bunny as a classic Easter motif because it is particularly well-suited to spring decorations.

Let the salt dough dry

After cutting out the shapes, I set my bunnies aside and allowed them to dry. Sitting out, salt dough hardens within 2 days. If you want to speed up the process, you can also bake the shapes. Follow the recommended baking time in your recipe or on the packaging of the store-bought salt dough.

Bunny magnets made from handprints

If you want to give your Easter magnets a decidedly personal touch, you can make bunnies from handprints. Children's hands are particularly suitable for this craft idea, as they create cute little rabbits. It also ensures that the bunny is not too heavy for the disc magnet.

This technique is especially fun when crafting with salt dough, because it is easy and makes each piece unique. To do this, place the hand on the dough and trace the outline with a sharp object. Then remove the middle finger from the traced handprint. The ring and index fingers will form the bunny's ears, and the thumb and little finger will become the paws. Without paint, the whole thing looks quite abstract, but trust the process!

Paint the figures

Once the salt dough is dry, you can move on to the colouring part and paint the figures. It is best to use acrylic paints, which provide good coverage and dry quickly. Soft pastel hues are particularly fitting for Easter decorations, while bold colours create striking accents.

For the bunny magnets made from handprints, I used shades of brown to resemble the bunny fur. Of course, you can paint your bunnies however you like. Colourful bunnies are eye-catching too!

Glue magnets to the figures

In the final step, glue the magnets onto the salt dough shapes. Once the glue has dried, your magnetic Easter decorations made from salt dough are finished and ready to be hung on the fridge or given as gifts. Happy Easter!