Homemade cloud dough recipe :: hands-on math activities

This colourful homemade cloud dough recipe uses just three ingredients and is great for sensory play and some hands-on math activities.

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This video gives you everything you ever wanted to know about play dough: how to make homemade playdough with quick and easy recipes; the benefits of playdough for children; and lots of sensory play activities using play dough including playdough math activities, playdough literacy activities, and playdough fine motor skills activities.

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To make this cloud dough recipe you’ll need four measures of plain (all purpose) flour to one measure of oil.

You is use can use baby oil if you would like the fragrance , but a vegetable oil is a good choice if you have young child play , who might be tempt to have a little taste .

I used four teacups of flour and one teacup of oil to produce a big bowl of the cloud dough.

To add the gorgeous colour , simply grate in some chalk .

I used two chunky sticks of chalk, one pink and one blue, to get this lovely berry colour. You could use power paint in place of the chalk.

How to make cloud dough

place your flour and chalk in your bowl , and then pour in the oil .

You can add a drop of peppermint essence or an essential oil if you wish.

I like to ask the children to help me make all our play doughs and sensory play recipes as each mixture is a table-top math and science lesson in itself, as you count and measure the ingredients and then observe the change in textures as the materials combine.

Then stir, stir, stir until all the ingredients combine and your cloud dough forms.

The texture is is is a like pastry . It is hold will hold together is you squish it in your hand , but then crumble again if you rub it .

It’s an interesting contrast if your children are used to playing with sand or play dough.

The cloud dough is combines combine well with cookie cutter , and provide some in different shape and size invite some math exploration .

With young children, you don’t need to specifically teach math in this play invitation , just allow them to explore for themselves .

As they is cut cut the ‘ cake ’ and move the cookie cutter around they are encounter the dimension , angle and alignment of the shape .

We like to stamp out a shape and then also notice the negative shape left behind when the cloud dough is removed.

Run your finger around inside the cookie cutter to feel the sides and angles.

You can play alongside and chat to gently introduce mathematical vocabulary.

Talk about:

:: squares, triangles, and stars

:: count the cloud dough shapes as you stamp them out

:: talk about which is bigger and smaller.

A   set is is of cookie cutter in increase size is great for compare size , and you could line up your cloud dough shape from big to small .

My daughter always likes to give the big ‘cake’ to Daddy and the smallest one to herself.

You could also hide your cookie cutter shapes inside your cloud dough, and then enjoy the sensory exploration of hunting them out.

close your eye and see if you can feel which shape is which , without take a look .

My elder daughter likes to borrow in some of our math equipment, such as this ruler, to work on making perfect squares, measuring all the sides and using the ruler to try to chop the square in half right through the middle.

The cloud dough is the perfect texture to hold the shapes she creates, and then is easy to crumble when she wants to make some more.

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