Cloud dough is something I’ve waited all winter to make! I’ve seen it done on plenty of other blogs, and every one mentions the mess-factor so I was waiting until the weather was good and warm so we could take it outside.
Cloud dough (also known as moon dough) is silky and mold-able and takes just two ingredients to make. It’s amazing stuff! The Hooligans absolutely loved it. I’m not kidding when I say it kept them engrossed for well over an hour.
You’re going to love how easy it is to whip up:
Add one cup of baby oil to 8 cups of flour. Stir well. I used a pastry cutter to mix mine, but a spoon or whisk would be fine. 
Transfer your dough to a bin or basin (I purchased this kitty litter box at the dollar store, and it’s perfect for sensory activities), and that’s it. You’re done!
Set out some containers, scoops and molds and let the little ones at it.
There’s something so soothing and relaxing working with this dough. The Hooligans were so QUIET while they played with it. 
You’ll want to wear old clothing or an apron (you can find my tutorial for my aprons here. I make them out of the legs of our old jeans). It’s definitely messy play, and I personally wouldn’t suggest doing this inside.
I had another activity set up as well. I filled the wagon with warm soapy water, and added containers, spray bottles, sponges and some farm animals. 
The Hooligans went back and forth between the two activities but the Cloud Dough bin was by far the most popular place to be today.
Store in an air-tight container for future use. 
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On a side note, I am often asked what kind of camera I shoot with. About a year and a half ago, I bought myself a Canon Rebel XS, and I absolutely LOVE it! It’s an entry-level DSLR camera, and it’s my baby! I do not digitally alter or enhance my photos except to add a title and my blog name to the feature photo in each post. The photos that appear on my blog are straight out of the camera. You can get the details on the Canon Rebel XS here:
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What a great set up with all of the molds and scoops! We love Cloud Dough here at the Clubhouse, and it really does last a very, very long time… which is always a bonus. Glad you all had fun with it!
Thanks, Liz! I’m glad to know it lasts a long time. I have a feeling we’ll be pulling it out often in the next few weeks.
My kids experienced this stuff for the first time recently, and like the Hooligans, my son was engrossed and busy with it for a long time. It smells good, feels neat, and the baby oil has the added bonus of making your hands soft! (Well, if you’re an adult like me that also gets your hands in it; the kids’ hands are already pretty soft.)
Yup, a bin of cloud dough is my favorite place to be too! Such a soothing texture!
It’s so lovely!, isn’t it, Rebekah? My only wish is that I’d used brand name baby oil. It would have smelled wonderful too, but the no-name brand that I used really didn’t have a scent.
I agree the scent adds to it, but it looks like the kids didn’t miss it. =)
This looks like SO much FUN! It’s on our Summer bucket list — can’t wait to give it a try!!
Thanks for sharing this post. I’ve been meaning to give cloud dough a try for ages and this has given me the motivation to get on it! I want to play too
Pinning this to remember it and i’ll link to your post when I eventually get around to posting about it. Debs
Thanks, Debs! I was the same – had been wanting to try it forever, but needed to wait for the warm weather. Have fun with it!
why would you have to wait for warm weather to make it? can it not be used the weather is not warm?
Because of the mess factor, Amber, I would only ever set up this activity outdoors, and really, the less clothing your child has to wear, the better. If the weather is cooler, and your child is fully dressed, I would recommend an apron or a smock for sure!
OK so We made this and the kids loved it, however we made it inside in our sensory table and it wasnt as messy I expected from the posts I read. We did however take it outside for water day on friday all the other classrooms want to make it now.. Thanks for the idea
So glad you gave it a try, Amber! Glad your class enjoyed it. Sounds like you might have started a trend!
I’m going to try this. Goblin loves sensory play and this looks perfect. I assume you can colour it too if you want?
I’m going to experiment with adding some food colouring to the mixed dough to see what happens. Apparently you can’t mix food colouring with baby oil (think oil and water), so I don’t think it can be done before you add the oil. Thanks for dropping by!
Tried this today. Goblin absolutely loved it and played for ages, but I can confirm that paste food colouring doesn’t work either. It just goes clumpy.
I loved playing with it too, it feels so nice – must be great for your hands – especially as the only oil we had in the house was olive oil!
We love cloud dough too. I mixed food colouring in after it was mixed and it went a nice speckled colour!
Aha, speckled! I guess that’s because oil and food colouring don’t mix (similar to oil and water). I’m just figuring this all out today, after hearing about someone else’s experimentation with colour. Thanks for letting me know, Katherine!
I’ve not done this to cloud dough consistency so much but I have added more oil so it’s more gooey. It would form to the container. We didn’t cover it so after a while it was more like playdough consistency I think. It was a great sensory/discovery activity. The kids helped mix it with their hands and both the kids and adults really liked it. It smelled good and was good for our hands too.
That sounds wonderfully squishy, Amber. You should give the cloud dough a try too!
OH, this looks like so much fun – I’m pinning to use soon
Have fun with it, Helen!
FUN! We love cloud dough, too! We haven’t played with it outside though so that is definitely on the agenda for this summer! Love all the different molds and straws are a great idea!
Oh yeah, Adrienne! You have to try it ouside!! It’s such a great backyard activity for summer!
Jackie- as a mom who made 3 underbed bins containing 170 lbs of cloud dough for a birthday party, I want to say (because the sheer volume we used makes me an expert, of course) that I have never met a kid who didn’t love cloud dough! haha! Glad you guys finally made it! Y’know what else? I still have all three of those giant bins filled with the original cloud dough and we still roll it out into the yard and play as a family 6 months later. Cloud dough is the best!!!! But, you do have to wash away the excess otherwise the oil and flour will clump and dry on the sidewalk!
Oh my gosh, Tricia, that is a RIDICULOUS amount of cloud dough! That is crazy (and yet so wonderful lol). I love that you literally “roll” it out to the yard to play with it after all this time.
Fun, fun, fun!! We love cloud dough. My daughter’s nursery school teacher asked me to lead a cloud dough station after reading about it on my blog, and it’s just as successful at home as it is in a larger school environment.
That’s super that they asked you to do that! Bet they could get TONS of great ideas off your blog for the classroom, Rachelle!!
The kids had fun when we did this couple months ago. The smell of it was great to….lol. Nothing like that fresh baby smell. (Momma’s Fun World)
I’ll use name brand baby oil next time, Catherine! I keep hearing about how wonderful the smell is, but we used a knock off brand of baby oil. It felt great, but there was no scent to it.
What great fun! I love the second activity you had set up in addition to the cloud dough! My daughter LOVES cloud dough though. It is a favorite. Pinned!
Hiya Happy Hooligans,
I needed an activity fast and came across this. THANK YOU.
We actually didn’t have baby oil, so I used Olive Oil instead. Toddler was most pleased.
Reading the comments here, I will have to try some.
People aren’t kidding when they say it is messy, though are they?
Have a good one.
Hi Bella! Great thinking – improvising with the Olive Oil! Glad your little one had fun with it! Apparently it stores for a long time in an air tight container too! And yes! It’s messy!! Definitely an outside activity!
That’s an amazing cloud dough set-up! I’ve always intended on making this for the girls, but haven’t yet. I love the idea of taking it outside!
It’s soooo awesome, Terri! You gotta try it!
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Thanks for this great idea! Both my boys loved it (ages 5 and 2) as did I! Wonderful! Thanks again!!
You’re welcome, Kelli! Glad you guys had fun with it!
Just had a great Sunday afternoon with our batch of Moon Dough. Kids loved squishing and smashing!
Awesome! So glad you had fun with it, Amanda!
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My daughter loves to play with cloud dough! I also use olive oil instead and added a few drops of Lavender for a relaxing scent.
I love the idea of adding a scent, Elaina. That would work well with the no name baby oil that I used because it didn’t have any scent at all. The lavender would add to the whole sensory experience. Thanks for the great idea.
I wonder whether you could add an envelope of unsweetened kool-aid type drink mix for color and scent? Anybody try that yet?
I believe Valerie and Alex from Glittering Muffins tried that, Sue, and the resulting colours were very pale. Wait a second! It may have been jello powder that they tried. Or maybe they tried both. I can’t remember now!
That makes sense, as I now notice there are 8 c. of flour involved here, and I use just one envelope of the unsweetened drink mix for 1 c flour in the play dough recipes. I guess the proportions would of mix to flour would have to go ‘way up and perhaps the flour amount adjusted accordingly to get a good result for the cloud dough, but my kids are in their 20′s now. Not a good chance of my testing it in the near future! hahaha
Hee hee! No, I guess at this point, you just have ’til the “grands” come along, and you can test it out on them. lol
I’m new to your blog but oh my! I will be back again and again. So far I am in love with the cloud dough, colored ice ideas and homemade watercolor paint! Thanks so much!
Cheers
Joanne
- CoconutPalmDesigns
Thank you, Joanne! What a lovely message to wake up to! I hope we continue to inspire you!
I just made this now but I did 1/8 cup of oil and 1 cup flour because I didn’t want to make a lot in the first round (only 1 child would be playing with this) and WOW this was amazing! First off it is exactly like the moon dough stuff and secondly, it smells soooo much better than the moon dough lol. So thank you for the wonderful recipe!
You’re welcome, Jess! Glad you loved it.
This just warms my heart! I love it! My son goes to an in home daycare and although the kids are all a little younger than the ones you watch, she is like you and loves to take them outside to explore and do fun crafts. I can’t wait to mention your site to her for future “big kid” playtime. I am an art teacher and love all of the sensory play and crafts. Great stuff!
Your comment means a lot to me, Leah. Thank you! I’m so glad your son is in a daycare where he gets to explore and create like we do. What a wonderful time he must be having! Thank you for passing my blog along to your care-giver!
I’d never heard of this stuff! Sounds great!
There IS a way to colour it, but you don’t use the usual food dye in a bottle, as that contains water.
However, you CAN get powdered food dye, which is used in chocolate making, as chocolate needs to not touch moisture, or it’ll clog up and ruin it during the melting process.
The stuff I have comes in very small bottles, so might be a bit expensive if you need lots of it, but it’s perhaps something to look into.
The powdered food dye for chocolate making can be bought from anywhere where chocolate molds and other such supplies are bought from, like Robin’s Kitchens.
I’m also pretty sure you can obtain much larger amounts of powdered dye to colour water (or anything else) with, but I doubt it’d be food safe.
It was just a vague memory from pre-school that I had and remembered about it just now. The powder came in big plastic jars and only a small amount was needed to colour a whole water trough. (it seemed big back then, lol!)
Hope this helps.
Thanks for the tips, Sasha! I’ve never heard of powdered food dye! I have heard actually that you can tint the cloud dough with powdered tempera paints. Could that be what you’re remembering from your pre-school days? I have quite a few tins of that. I should really try adding some to the bin when we play with this again next spring.
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We just made cloud dough, in our kitchen. We put down a table cloth and went to town!! Even my 6 month old wanted in on the fun!
I wonder what some pumpkin pie spice would do to the smell. Might be good!
I think adding pumpkin pie spice would smell lovely, Tana. Glad your kiddos enjoyed this activity!
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What fabulous ideas!!!!! Love them! !
We made a batch of cloud dough today. It’s great.
Yay! We just love that stuff here, Amber!
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