Cloud Dough

I've been reading about sensory bins for play and development and wanted to try something with my kidlets to see how they would like it.  I love the water bins and some of the other outdoor bins I've seen, but I wanted to try an easier one first.

Yesterday the kidlets and I mixed up a batch of cloud dough before we went outside to play. The recipe is just 8 cups of all purpose flour mixed with 1 cup of baby oil.  I first saw it here.
I used a lavender scented baby oil so it smelled awesome as well.

It felt so cool mixing this stuff up. It's soft and silky.  Its not sticky on your hands, but brushes right off.   It sticks together when you squeeze a handful, but falls apart again very similar to the way beach sand works. 

This bin is just the right size and the sides are low enough for easy access.

I knew it was supposed to rain this morning so last night I put the Cloud Dough into a shallow bin, a good size for my kidlets to play in and added some beach toys.  Then all I had to do was spread a sheet over the carpet in the playroom and put the bin on a low table.

This was the consistency the kids mixed it to yesterday. It got smoother as they played.

When I put the bin down on the table and took the lid off this morning, they all came and looked to see what I was doing with it.   I'm not sure what they thought we were making yesterday and I don't think they cared because they just like helping, but when they found out they were going to actually play in it there were some pretty big smiles.

Here you can see the sheet on the floor. It makes clean up a breeze.

They started out with just the beach toys  but we soon added spoons, cookie cutters, and some jello molds as well to make sand castles.

This was as much fun as bringing the beach home.  I've seen where its sometimes called cloud sand, and that's exactly what it is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This activity kept the kidlets busy about 40 minutes.  That is definitely a record here for sure.

 

This was simple to do,  didn't cost a lot, and I can just dump it into a jar and I think it will keep for a while so we can use it again. At least a few times.  If I make this again I think I will use canola oil instead of baby oil.  Its cheaper for one and I think it would work the same way.  As well if it were made from canola oil it would actually be edible...ewww....but  those little ones put their hands in their mouths a lot.

 

 

Have you ever used cloud dough.  I'd love to hear about it or any other cool ideas you have for sensory play.