The site I found my recipe from,* The site I found my recipe from was almost the same however instead of baby oil it was vegetable oil to ensure it was toddler safe ( think about taste being a sense(sensory) so if they feel like tasting it perhaps?- so instead of baby oil it called for vegetable oil and to color it you add the food coloring into the vegetable oil before you
mix it with the flour, (this recipe has you shake it up in a bag and mush it with your hands to combine and distribute evenly but advice from others is always useful! Always better to learn from trial and error:) Good Luck hope that helped.

You make a lot of sense perhaps I should try to color and get back to you

The site I found my recipe from was almost the same however instead of baby oil it was vegetable oil to ensure it was toddler safe ( think about taste being a sense(sensory) so if they feel like tasting it perhaps) so instead of baby oil it called for vegetable oil and to color it you add the food coloring into the vegetable oil before you mix it with the flour) I’m currently trying to figure out how to scrub this off stone ‍♀️. Always better to learn from mistakes 🙂 Good Luck hope that helped.

It will last indefinitely, Lorrie. I just put ours in a container with a tight lid when we’re finished playing. We’ve had ours for a few years now.

That would likely work, Vanessa. Any air tight container will do.

What a fun mom you are! I’m so glad your girls loved it!

You could try. I’ve used vegetable oil in the past, but I haven’t personally tried any other edible oils in this recipe.

Could you also substitute coconut oil?

Thanks!

I think you might have seen Kinetic Sand or Sands Alive, Michelle. Those have more of a magnetic quality if that makes sense. This feels similar to the touch, and it is mouldable, but it doesn’t have that same, unique magnetic quality that the others seem to have.

I dont think so because it’s liquid, but any mild bar soap should work.

I would give it a try, Jennifer. I think if it’s the same texture as regular flour, it would probably work. I’m guessing there though.

Thank you! Congrats again on being featured 🙂

Sure, Kelly! I’m glad you like it! A photo with a link to my site for the actual recipe/details would be much appreciated. Thank you!

Thanks for the suggestion, Ginny. I tried kool-aid, but it didn’t really work. It was too pale to be noticeable for some reason. Maybe because it’s water soluble, and wouldn’t mix properly with the oil? I agree though Kool-aid is wonderful for play dough!

Aw, thank you, Sandi! I’m so glad you’re enjoying our activities! I’m not sure if it would work with cornmeal. You could certainly try. It would definitely produce a sensory play substance of some kind, I’m just not sure if it would be as silky soft as it is when you use flour. I’m also not sure about how absorbent cornmeal is. You might end up with more of a sticky dough kind of material. I would suggested testing your idea with a couple of tbsps of cornmeal and a tbsp of oil to see how the two ingredients mix together. Let me know how it turns out!

I would like to know if this would work with cornmeal. I have used flour……but on this this day that I choose to make this again I’m all out! I love your work and you really encourage me to be a better provider. Thank you so much for all you do! Sandi

We’ve not had any staining, Desiree, but if you’re concerned I would just have the children wear old clothing or smocks/aprons.

When you’re confident that you child isn’t going to be tempted to eat it, Jan. You could supervise very closely, but if you’re not certain that your child won’t want to taste it, I would hold off.

At what age can you use cloud dough

If you take the link in my post to the Coloured Cloud Dough, you’ll see how we coloured ours, Elizabeth. We tried a few things, and unfortunately, Koolaid powder didn’t work, but we did find a way to colour it beautifully!

When I saw this post, I thought about making this for students of mine. I have 2 classes of autistic students from kindergarten to year 5, who are often very sensory seeking, and easily bored with activities. This could be a fun change to the usual games and activities we have at lunchtime/recess. With a maximum of 7 in each class, and most of one class integrated into the mainstream playground, and two teachers on duty, this could be lots of fun! Thank you so much!

I can’t say we’ve ever had that problem, Jessica. lol Sorry! I’d try googling “getting dough out of hair”. Essentially bread dough or pizza dough would be pretty much the same thing – flour and oil, so that might turn something up. I’m surprised dish soap didn’t work, but sometimes the best way to fight grease is with grease – i.e. oil will remove oily, sticky stains, so maybe combing a little more baby oil or vegetable oil through her hair with a very fine toothed comb, and rubbing the little pieces between your oily fingers might break it down. You’ll def. need to do a dish-soap hair wash after that though, to cut the grease. Good luck!

I can’t be sure, Jessica, but I think it might. You could try mixing up a very small amount – 1/4 cup flour and a tbsp of oil to see what the consistency is like.

That sounds wonderful, Tracy! We’ll have to try it!

I think any All Purpose flour would work, Sandra.

Awesome, Sarah! I may just have to brave it indoors one of these days then!

Storage and shelf-life is mentioned at the bottom of the post.

Thanks. I didn’t think of the inhalation issue while mixing. Going to blame it on baby brain. Guess I will have plenty of powder for my beach bag for sand removal.
Can’t wait to mix a batch of this for my toddler.

I don’t think I would use baby powder as it’s much finer and the dust can pose a health hazard if inhaled, Leslie. I would personally stick to the flour as it’s natural and not nearly as light and fine.

I believe you can add chalk dust or tempera paint powder, Nicole, but it won’t take food colouring well because that’s water based, and well, you know the whole water and oil don’t mix thing…

powder tempra paint also works. mix it in the the flower to add color then mix in the oil.

Hi Kathy, the recipe is close to the top of the post. I’ve just made it stand out a little more so it’s easier to spot. 🙂

On that note, has anyone tried using a powdered-type colorant with this? I’m thinking even something as simple as a finely-crushed dollar-store eyeshadow or blush would mix well with the flour and produce an even color. Also, what about color-appropriate scents? I know of a FANTASTIC company that makes amazing fragrances for homemade soaps, candles, and other items. Perhaps an unscented baby oil with a little blueberry, grape, raspberry, lemon, apple or watermelon scent would take this stuff to the next level?

Thanks so much for linking to my cloud dough recipe! Looks like the Babe had lots of fun with yours! Isn’t it a bummer that food colouring won’t dye the dough? I think it would be so cool in a vibrant colour!

Just the one recipe that’s listed in the post, Tara.

Yay! We just love that stuff here, Amber!

I think adding pumpkin pie spice would smell lovely, Tana. Glad your kiddos enjoyed this activity!

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!

So glad you gave it a try, Amber! Glad your class enjoyed it. Sounds like you might have started a trend! 🙂

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

You’re welcome, Jess! Glad you loved it. 🙂

Thank you, Joanne! What a lovely message to wake up to! I hope we continue to inspire you! 🙂

Cheers 🙂
Joanne
– CoconutPalmDesigns

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

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

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! 🙂

why would you have to wait for warm weather to make it? can it not be used the weather is not warm?

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!

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. 🙂

Awesome! So glad you had fun with it, Amanda!

You’re welcome, Kelli! Glad you guys had fun with it! 🙂

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!

Oh yeah, Adrienne! You have to try it ouside!! It’s such a great backyard activity for summer!

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. 🙂

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!!

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. 🙁

It’s soooo awesome, Terri! You gotta try it!

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!

I agree the scent adds to it, but it looks like the kids didn’t miss it. =)

That sounds wonderfully squishy, Amber. You should give the cloud dough a try too!

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!

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.

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. 🙂

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!