cloud dough

Spring is finally here and the warm weather has left us enjoying a lot time outdoors-- gardening, riding bikes, walking to the park.  The boys have very much enjoyed all the beautiful weather! 

Today, we took a little bit a different turn and spent the morning indoors because Clark was feeling a bit sick.  After sharing my bed last night with a feverish and coughing baby I was also feeling a bit groggy.  After a few cups of coffee and a look through Pinterest, I decided to make the boys "Cloud Dough" for their sensory tub.  

Cloud dough is made from flour and baby oil and has an almost sand like texture. I actually used coconut oil because I don't keep baby oil on hand and it worked just as great and smelled fantastic! It clumps together easily to build little creations and crumbles when you touch it.  Watching the boys play with the dough, burying their fingers into the cool texture made for a fun morning.  

Kannon was very excited to make little balls with the measuring spoon.  He created a little system where he carefully poured flour from one container to the next before stopping to make a tiny little ball.  Once he made the ball he immediately crushed it in a moment of pure joy and wonder.  We talked a lot about the texture, using different vocabulary words to describe the flour: smooth, soft, fluid etc.  We also identified all the teaspoons from 1/4 tsp to 1 tbls.  Kannon was very attracted to the smallest teaspoon and kept burying it under the cloud dough.  After he buried it, he asked "where did the little spoon" go?  Immediately, he found it and exclaimed, "yay, little spoon!"  For Kannon, this was the perfect sensory experience because he could construct something, have the sensation of tearing it down, he could smell and taste the dough, feel it crumble between his fingers, identify objects, and invented his own game.  To the casual observer, he might look like he is just playing, but clearly, there was a lot of learning going on.  

Clark on the other hand had a different experience with the cloud dough.  I have always noticed that Clark loves the sensory experience.  He loves to swish his fingers in water, cover his hands in fingerpaint, tug at Emma's (dog) hair.  I knew he would enjoy playing with the cloud dough and has expected, he loved it! Clark actually tried diving into the sensory tub, seriously.  He jumped off his chair and dug his hands deep into the dough laughing at the sensation.  I had hidden a few bottle caps in the dough and asked him to find them and he smiled with joy after every found cap.  Then Clark used the little bottle cap to scoop the dough one by one into a small bowl where he then pretended it was soup and offered me to try some.  Shortly after, Clark started to get cranky and tired and began throwing the dough onto the floor so his turn was naturally over.  The next time we play in the sensory tub, I want to try using some paper dixie cups to scoop the dough and also encourage Clark to build something with.  

Overall, cloud dough was a big hit.  From a mother's and teacher's perspective, I loved that it was somewhat easy to clean-up, smelled great, tasted great, and provided an enriching learning experience.  Here is the recipe as well as some vocabulary words we explored during our play.  (**Remember vocabulary is the BIGGEST contributor to literacy and academic success! Try using three different words for every word you would normally use!)

Cloud Dough

8 cups of flour

1 cup of oil (most oils will do: coconut oil, baby oil, grapeseed oil, mineral oil NOT veggie/canola oil) (Obviously, dont let your child taste the baby oil versions) 

Mix together for 3-5 minutes until all the oil is incorporated and clumps together easily. You can make this even more entertaining by hiding objects in the dough, adding cars, measuring spoons. 

Vocabulary

Measure

Stack

Count

Quantify

Add

Build 

Create

Construct

Smooth

Soft

Soothing

Lush

Hide

Embed

Submerge

Find

Recover