- 10 - 20 mins
- Fine motor development, creative expression, hand eye coordination
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Easy! Minimal mess
Cloud dough is a silky smooth sensory experience, that is inexpensive, simple, quick to create, and provides hours of entertainment.
This activity will build upon your child’s fine motor development and hand-eye coordination, as well as nurture creativity and imagination. Cloud dough is one of those activities that have endless opportunities, allowing children to create and play however their heart desires. Dough also has a calming effect on children; the squishing and squashing of dough is soothing and will allow outlets to express their emotions.
What you will need
- Hair conditioner
- Corn starch
- Bowl
- Spatula or spoon
- Food colouring
Activity steps
This activity is best suited to children who will no longer put things in their mouth.
- Measure equal portions of hair conditioner and cornstarch and place in a bowl. One cup of each is a good start and enough for one child to play with.
- Use your spoon to mix, if it’s really sticky, add some more cornstarch until it all starts to come together like dough.
- Put a little bit of cornstarch on your bench and kneed the dough, moving it around until it is no longer sticky.
- Put a thumb imprint into you ball of dough and put a few drops of food colouring and kneed until smooth. The food colouring may stain you hands whilst mixing into the dough, so wear gloves if you are worried.
- Have fun playing with the silky smooth dough!
- Store in an airtight bag or container, it will last for about a week.
Have fun and leave a comment below.
Learning Outcomes
- Fine motor development
- Hand- eye coordination
- Creative expression
- Sensory
My daughter had a lovely time playing with this! However, I did find I needed twice the amount of corn flour that I did conditioner. I’d recommend starting with half the amount of conditioner you think you need and adding more if it’s too dry