Cloud Dough is an easy 3-Ingredient playdough that even your little ones can help you make. No cooking required! The texture is wonderfully soft and pliable for hours of playdough fun.
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Want a great project to make with your kids? This is the softest, fluffiest playdough - absolute fun to play with. The big kid in you will get as much thrill out of it as the little ones!
Cooking with Kids
Meet my three little partners - willing accomplices and Playdough Experts Extraordinaire!
Our three Cloud Dough chefs:
left: Rowan is 4 years old, a busy little guy who loves riding his bicycle and running fast
center: Lucas is 8 years old, loves projects, and is a budding hockey player
right: Samuel is 4 years old, a curious little guy who is crazy about cars and also loves running fast
We got together this spring for an afternoon of Cloud Dough making - and a good time was had by all.
What is Cloud Dough?
It's a simple playdough that can be stirred up in 5 minutes, with no cooking required. You only need 3 ingredients (2 if you just want white-coloured playdough), and it can be made easily with your kid helpers. The three ingredients are:
- lotion or hair conditioner
- cornstarch
- food colouring (liquid or paste)
That's it!
Try to use a white-coloured lotion or hair conditioner, and get an unscented one if you want your playdough to be scent-free. We used Jergens® Ultra Care Fragrance Free lotion and also a generic no-name white-coloured hair conditioner. Both worked equally well.
Put the lotion or conditioner into a bowl (pick a fairly large-sized bowl as the cornstarch powder fluffs up and can poof over the sides). Add a few drops of your desired food colouring and stir until it is well mixed. Remember that the colour will be a little lighter once mixed with the cornstarch, so make the mixture a shade darker than you want the finished Cloud Dough to be.
Then add in the cornstarch, starting with the smaller amount. Mix with a spoon until it gets too dry to stir, then dig in with your hands. This is the fun part. Knead the dough until it is nice and soft and fluffy. Add more cornstarch, about a tablespoon at a time, until you get a nice malleable dough that doesn't crack or stick to your hands. If the play dough gets too dry, add another squirt of lotion or conditioner; if it gets too wet, add a bit more cornstarch.
You'll get the feel of it and know how much cornstarch or lotion to add. Different lotions or conditioners may need different amounts of cornstarch.
Make up each batch of colour separately.
Cloud Dough = Fun Dough
How to Store It
Cloud Dough will keep well for a long time (many weeks) if stored in a sealed container. Wrap it in plastic wrap or put it into a ziptop sandwich baggie and seal it. Then put the bag into an airtight container or heavy ziptop bag. If it dries out a bit, work in another squirt of lotion or conditioner until it is soft and pliable again.
Kids can find different gadgets from around the house to make imprints into the Cloud Dough or help shape it.
This easy kids' craft is one you can make any time with just a few ingredients that you probably have in your home. It will help keep kids entertained for hours. In addition to being so quick to make, it's gluten-free and great for kids with sensitive skin (if you use a scent-free or hypoallergenic lotion).
A beautiful batch of Cloud Dough is just minutes away.
* * * * *
Note: This playdough is not edible, so it is not recommended for children under 3 years of age, unless supervised by an adult. For an edible playdough, try this Gluten Free Potato Playdough.
Cloud Dough Playdough
Margaret Bose Johnson
An easy 3-Ingredient playdough that even your little ones can help you make. No cooking required. The texture is wonderfully soft and pliable for hours of playdough fun.
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Save for Later
Prep Time 5 minutes mins
Total Time 5 minutes mins
Course Crafts, Kids
Cuisine American, Canadian
Servings 1
Ingredients
- ½ cup (120ml) hand lotion or hair conditioner, preferably white-coloured unscented if desired
- a few drops food colouring (liquid or paste)
- 1-1¼ cups (140-175gms) corn starch
Instructions
Scrape the lotion or conditioner into a bowl. Add enough food colouring drops to tint it the colour you'd like, remembering it will lighten up a bit when mixed with the cornstarch.
Add 1 cup of cornstarch and mix it in with a spoon. Then add a bit more of the ¼ cup of cornstarch as needed, 1 tablespoon at a time. Start mixing the cloud dough with your hands once it's too hard to get it smooth with a spoon. Scrape the dough out onto a work surface and knead it with your hands to get it nice and pliable. Add a bit more cornstarch if the playdough is too soft. Add a bit more lotion or conditioner if it is too stiff.
Have fun playing with the Cloud Dough. Store it in a sealed plastic bag or container between uses. If it gets a bit dry, work in a small amount of lotion or conditioner until it's soft and pliable again.
Notes
*This playdough is NOT edible, so is not recommended for children under 3 years of age, unless supervised by an adult.
This playdough turns out the same whether you use lotion or conditioner. It's easy to scale the amounts and use less or more of the ingredients - just keep it to a ratio of 1 part lotion or conditioner to 2 parts cornstarch, and add a little more cornstarch if needed.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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