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Cloud Dough, Moon Sand, Warm Snow... call it what you will, it still spells F-U-N!

We've been meaning to try this wonderful sensory experience for ages now but for whatever reason I just kept putting it off. Well, no longer, and we're oh-so happy that we tried it!

I asked my 3 year old what she thought the best name was for it after a bit of a play. She decided "Moon Sand" was the most appropriate because you play with it the same way you'd play with sand. 

You can mould it and smooth it and squeeze it and shape it, but apply a little bit of pressure and it crumbles back to flour. The difference to sand, however, is the wonderful silky smooth texture and lovely scent if you use a scented oil. This is where we see the cloudy nature coming in.

I've also seen moon sand elsewhere made very similar but with half play sand added.

So, how do you make it? Easy! 

Ingredients: 8 cups of plain flour to 1 cup of oil. 

***We used baby oil for the scent and also because I was able to keep a constant watch of my daughter whom I trust not to ingest any. In a preschool/school type setting or with younger kids who might ingest some, I would suggest a Canola or vegetable oil.***

Method

 Now play!

                   

 Moulding with the Cloud Dough   

 Patting it down flat

Smoothing out a hill

Maddie (3y/o) loved the texture of the Cloud Dough. She just wanted to keep playing with it and touching it. She insisted on laying down so she could get up close to it and observe as she played with it.

Here are 6 more fun ideas on other ways to play with Cloud Dough for you to check out


We turn our Cloud Dough into super cold Fake Snow!

Familylicious shows you how to make Coloured Cloud Dough

My Small Potatoes uses Cloud Dough for a baking sensory bin

My Buddies and I coloured their's green and added some dinosaurs!

Happy Hooligans took their Cloud Dough outside for a sensory group activity

Critters And Crayons made these HUGE tubs of cloud dough for their amazing Super Hero Birthday Party.

(This looks like such a fun party, you must check it out!)

Handy Tips:

- Simplify- To simplify this activity, make the cloud dough for your child and then let them explore

- Extend- To extend this activity ask your child to half the recipe to add in some extra math. You could use cloud dough in a sensory tray to write letters, words, numbers etc. Build sandcastles with it. Can they build any with multiple levels? etc

- Begin- For your child's first time playing with Cloud Dough, I would recommend letting them play with it and explore it before adding extra tools for them. See first if they have ideas they want to do with it and if they ask you for items. (ie. I was specifically asked for a, "spatula to smooth out a hill.") You never know what your children might think of on their own. If they don't seem sure of what to do with it or how to play further, try adding some cups, a spoon, trucks, dinosaurs, popsicle sticks.. the list goes on.

- Colouring- Apparently, food dye just doesn't really work at colouring it very well. Powdered paint appears to be your best option. I'm happy with it being white. I'm planning on adding silver glitter with it next time we play.

-*** Supervise- Always supervise young children around things they could ingest. Baby oil shouldn't be ingested.***

- Mess- Eeep, this seems too messy! Yes, it isn't a completely mess-free activity but if you take adequate precautions the clean up should be minimal. If the weather is good, I recommend taking it outside as you won't have to worry about it then. Otherwise, we did ours on a tiled floor on a plastic mat. I knew some would come out of the dish so I just made the rule that none was to go off the mat. This worked fine. The small amount that went on the floor I vacuumed up in a second and the rest on the mat tipped back into the dish when we were done. Many people use it in big tubs which could also help contain it more. Don't allow children to walk on it on tiled or laminate surfaces as the oil in the dough makes it slippery.



Happy playing,
Debs :)

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Here is another open ended Invitation to Play idea that could have your child occupied and learning for ages. A Multi-Material Playdough Exploration.

Develop those senses, practice skills and give their brain a work out by providing a range of attractively presented materials to work with a play dough base.

Ages: 1+

Materials: This was a simple set up of 4 different coloured balls of playdough and 6 different tubs of materials



 The containers held the following materials.

1)Patty pans and doileys (she used them before I got a pic), 2)Soft things- pom poms and wool, 3)Pretend play objects- Small plastic animals, trees and fences 4)Long stick like objects, straws, coloured sticks and coloured popsicle sticks, 5)Mix tub- cut up pipe cleaners, little bits of wood ends and plastic teddy bears and 6)Basic playdough tools- rolling pin, cutters and pattern roller

Simply 'discovering' and exploring the different materials within each tub was fun and exciting.

Giving her choice and control over what and how she used each item was what kept her exploring and manipulating for quite some time.

Some tips:

- Repeat this activity time and time again with the same or different materials. You will be surprised by the amount of different ways they use the same materials.

- If you feel your child gets "stuck" repeating the same process again and again, you could play along side them and explore different ways to use the materials yourself. Your child will see what you are doing and how you are doing it and learn

- Use the materials you have at your own house. You don't need to buy things specifically. Be creative with what you find around the house for them to use.

- This activity would be enjoyed by children of all ages

Happy playing,

Debs :)

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Children love to replicate the behaviours of adults, especially if it involves water!

Here, with this fun pretend play activity, I got 3 things accomplished. 

1) I kept her entertained, 2) She was learning AND 3) the dirty toys and doll's clothes got clean! haha

Ages: 2+
(M was just 3 here. See the Handy Tips at the bottom to simplify or extend to meet your child's needs)

 The setup: An Invitation to Play. using a couple of towels on the floor I set up a washing station (bowl of soapy water for washing and bowl of clear water for rinsing) and a child-sized clothes line with pegs. We then collected toys from around the house that needed a wash

 Learning about order and process. First we wash and scrub in soapy water. Lots of fun pouring, swirling, scrubbing etc here

 Second we rinse all the soap off in clear, clean water

 We don't need to scrub the material the same way we would with plastic toys. Notice how the material absorbs the water

 Understanding order and process gets easier the more we practice

Wringing out the clothes to remove the excess water. This is trickier than it seems for little kids... especially ensuring all the material is OUT of the water before squeezing and that it doesn't go back in!

Pegging up the clothes to dry. This requires good fine motor skills and is fabulous for practicing coordination

 Swishing it round and round in the water... just like a washing machine does!

 Coordination required here! There was a lot of dropping the peg while trying to adjust the clothing to be hung. I was happy to see her demonstrating patience and keep trying

Whilst doing this activity she role-played being "mummy" and commentated her every move. 
Fabulous language practice!

Handy Tips:

- Talk with your child about what they are doing. This will help them understand the physical and mental processes they are going through as well as giving them the vocabulary to describe it.

- Use new language and descriptive words like, "process", "wringing out" etc. This will help with their language development.

- Simplify this activity for young toddlers who might not have the fine motor skills and coordination required to peg up clothes by just giving them some plastic toys or plastic plates etc, to wash

- Extend this activity by assigning your child a pretend role (mummy, daddy, Mr Washer etc) and allow them to get into character. This can add to the imaginative aspect of the activity and often promotes language development as they commentate their actions.

- We had to change the rinsing water at one point because it got too soapy.

- Demonstrate how or where to hold the clothing in order to peg it up if your child needs the assistance




Happy playing,
Debs :)

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Open ended activities (meaning there is no specific end result required and children can take the activity to whatever level they desire) are my all time favourite types of activities with children.

Whilst we always have a lot of fun learning new skills and creating decorative and useful items when crafting or cooking, providing an activity that I don't know exactly where it's going to lead is when I witness the most authentic learning and where I experience the most delight watching.

Providing 4 materials for my daughter to manipulate and explore on a mat is how I created this invitation for play. The rest was up to the child.

 Here is the invitation to play

 Bypassing all the animals, it was "plant making" time with the pipe cleaners and playdoh

 Using coordination and fine motor skills to wrap one pipe cleaner around the other

 The beginnings of a sculpture. Giving their brain a workout and using problem solving to make things stand up, stay upright, keep balanced etc.

 This is perfect fine motor skill practice for young children. Simply wrapping pipe-cleaners around craft sticks

 She spent a long time wrapping and wrapping and wrapping to create this beautiful "plant," using the playdoh as a stand

"I'm making a sun"

Some tips:

- Notice she didn't use the animals at all. Not once. This is fine. Allowing them to choose which materials they deem necessary to whatever they are creating is important for their own creativity and problem solving. Letting them know they don't have to use everything they see could be valuable for your child

- This activity really doesn't need to be simplified or extended. That is the beauty about open-ended play.

- Listen to your child talk as they go through their experiences. This will help you determine where they are at with their learning, knowledge and understanding and help you to develop the activity (or future activities) to their level and interests.

- This activity can be repeated time and time again with a different end result each time. You can also mix around and change some of the materials that you provide each time to inspire new ideas

- Use this time to demonstrate particular skills to them that they might be attempting unsuccessfully. Just learning to wrap something around an object might need some guidance. Wrapping a pipe cleaner around something solid and stable like a craft stick is easier than wrapping one around another pipe-cleaner. Start with the easier experience first and work up to the harder experiences.

- Make your child aware of the problem solving they are doing with questions and comments. "How did you get that pipe cleaner to stay on the end of the craft stick?" "Using the playdoh as a stand was a good idea to get your plant to stand upright" etc


Debs :)

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