Cloud Dough Sand for Beach Small World Play

Welcome to the second month of the 12 Months of Sensory Dough series, where I’m challenging myself to try out a different sensory dough recipe each month. Last month we had lots of fun with Foam Dough. (Plus we also made Rose Scented No Cook Play Dough which was very popular…)

And the challenge for February – Cloud Dough! We’ve made a version of cloud dough before when we made Play Snow around Christmas time. This time we opted for an ocean / beach / island theme, so we decided to make cloud dough ‘sand’.

JJ was as excited about the process of making the cloud dough as she was about playing with it.

Recipe for Cloud Dough Sand

• 4 cups of plain flour
• 1 cup of baby oil
• Yellow Food Colouring
• Fine yellow glitter
• Course gold glitter

As you can see, the yellow food colouring dyed some chunks of the cloud dough more than others, giving it a bespeckled look. It wasn’t an intentional effect, but we actually didn’t mind how it turned out. (I imagine you could achieve a more consistent colour my kneading it more, or perhaps by adding the food colouring to the baby oil before mixing it into the flour. I’ve seen people use liquid watercolours instead of food colouring too.)

JJ helped me to set up the small world play. We used denim offcuts and an odd blue sock for the water, cut scrap fabrics for towels, Lego people, pirate themed Mega Blocks (pirate, sailor, two boats, octopus, palm tree, treasure chest), a couple of Schleich turtles, and various other odds and sods from around the house. I purposely kept to the larger toys for this sensory play, so that Bee could join in.

Bee is becoming old enough that she can play interactively with JJ, instead of just alongside her. I love it when they play together like this. For a few minutes, I don’t have to run off in two directions. I can sit and watch this sisterly relationship blossom. Precious times.

And of course, after a while, they emptied out the toys and interacted with the cloud dough in a more sensory way. JJ liked feeling the texture with her feet. Bee liked to pick up fistfuls of dough and transfer it to the garden.

Lots of fun!

JJ has been loving this series so far. Actually she’s caught on that there is a “list” of different types of dough that we’re making, and has started requesting to make a different dough every other day, so much so that we’ve already made March, April, May and September’s batches! Hey, I figure we may as well keep going while she is obviously getting so much enjoyment out of it (and while the weather is warm enough for messy play outside!)

Are you interested to hear what I think about all the doughs so far? Well, to be honest the Foam Dough, Cloud Dough and Play Snow are fairly similar in texture; mouldable, yet crumbly. They are all lovely to just rake your fingers through the crumbs, mould into a ball into your hand, and then apply a little pressure to watch it crumble again. The Cloud Dough Sand is much easier to mould than actual sand, the Play Snow is sooo soft and the Foam Dough has the extra sensory experience of working with shaving cream. But all in all you will get similar results from any of these recipes, so just go with the ingredients you already have in your cupboard.

The Rose Scented No Cook Play Dough is a different type of dough from the other three. It is much more like commerical Play-Doh (although better, IMHO).

But no matter which dough you chose to make, your kids will love it. Kneading, rolling, shaping dough is therapeutic. If you don’t believe me, try it yourself.  There is something calming about engaging the sense of touch. They will also be exercising fine motor muscles, in readiness for writing and scissor control later on.

xx Danya