Making Cloud Dough

This was a rough day.  It was certainly a Labor Day for my husband and I, as we had a bunch of cranky girls on our hands.  I was looking for a toddler activity the twins could do while their sister napped.  C, 20 months, puts everything in her mouth so I did not want to do this while she was around. So I looked at what I had on hand and remembered a recipe I had seen for cloud dough at Pre-school Play.  Yes!  I had flour and baby oil.  I love me a two ingredient recipe.  I should be clear at the outset incase the baby oil wasn't enough of a deterrent for you- you do not want to eat this dough.

Simple recipe: 4 cups of flour, 1/2 cup baby oil, mix.  I did not feel like the dough had enough of a pliable consistency with just 1/2 cup of oil so I ended up using almost a cup so it wasn't so powdery.  This recipe is pretty forgiving.  I have made play doh recipes where you needed to follow the amounts exactly, but I nearly doubled one of the amounts here and it still turned out okay.  I had the girls help me with the scooping and pouring.  The reason I only have pictures of A pouring is because B spilled her oil when she was helping and I needed to stop taking pictures and help clean up.

A helps scoop the flour

A adds the baby oil to the mix

Mix it all together using your hands.  I did this part myself.  You will want the consistency to be like you can squish it together and it will stay that way, kind of like sand that is wet.  It will end up being super soft and squishy.  Which is also an accurate description of my stomach after 3 kids.  

I put some on a tray and noticed the girls were making castles so I gave them some little American flag toothpicks to use on them.  Like my Labor Day tie in?  Bonus tip: this fun kids activity can also be used for the 4th of July, Veteran's Day, Flag Day, Pledge of Allegiance Day, Betsy Ross' birthday... I am just making stuff up here, but you get the point.

B plays with her dough

One small step for A, one giant leap for kid kind

They girls asked for some cups and spoons, which I gave them, and they pretended to make cakes by pushing the dough into the cups. 

B's birthday cake.  I helped her put the layers together.  

The cool thing about this stuff is that it holds the shape of whatever mold you put it in.  The not cool thing about this stuff is the mess.  Goodness the mess!  Now I know this blog is called "Mess For Less," but I could have done with a little less mess today.  

Make sure you allow enough time for this activity.  I tried to squeeze it in prior to trip to the store, but the girls really liked it and it took longer to play with and clean up than I thought, due in part to A spilling a nice chunk of the cloud dough on the floor.  Accident or on purpose, I don't know.  I have put the leftovers in a ziploc bag in the refrigerator and I will see how long it lasts before getting moldy.  Maybe I can get a few more uses out of it.  I just need to make my husband clean up next time.