The local NBC affiliate here in Phoenix asked us to create some Olympic-inspired activities to share on the Arizona Midday show this Friday (if you live in Phoenix be sure to tune in to Channel 12 during the 1pm hour to catch our live segment!). We were honored to be included in their Olympic coverage and since it’s the closest either Aimée or I will ever get to being in the Olympics we’ve given it our gold-medal effort!
Who doesn’t want a Gold Medal after watching the Olympics? We made our own Gold Medals using air dry clay, but you could also use this salt dough recipe.
We rolled out a clump of clay onto wax paper. We traced a circle cookie cutter (a mason jar lid would also work) to create the medal’s basic circular shape by pressing the cookie cutter into the clay very lightly. We did the actual cutting with a small knife so we could add in that rectangular loop at the top for stringing the ribbon. I gave my girls a variety of items we had lying around the house (baby food lids, a hotel keycard, wooden cuticle sticks and a marker cap) to help with carving their design into the medals.
After letting the medals dry thoroughly we applied two coats of metallic gold spray paint. Of course you could also spray paint the medallions in silver or bronze if you’re trying to make an award medals set as for a party game or something, but my girls both wanted GOLD (and who can blame them!)
I found pretty purple ribbon that reminded me of the photos I’ve seen of the London 2012 Summer Games medals. Compare the photo above to the real gold medal, and I think you’ll be impressed!
I threaded one yard of ribbon through each medal’s loop then tied the ends together in a knot. I brought the knot around so it would lay hidden behind the medal.
For more Olympic ideas check out my Olympic board on Pinterest.
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WOW! i have seen many “gold medals” to make but these are the most authentic looking i have seen.
[...] a homemade gold medal; you could get all crafty with this tutorial or just use a gold paint pen on paper, [...]