Have you tried playing with cloud dough yet?? It is totally awesome! We made two big batches of it for a cloud dough ice cream shop — LOTS of pretend play FUN! I’m not exaggerating when I say that the girls played with this stuff for hours, and it was another great use for our Outdoor Mud Pie Kitchen.
To make your own cloud dough, just mix 4 cups of flour with 1/2 cup of baby oil. Easy peasy! Invite the kiddos to measure and stir — they love to do that.
Want to whip up some pink cloud dough for strawberry ice cream?? Place a piece of red chalk pastel (about 1/2 a stick will do) in a zipper bag, crush it (with a rolling pin), then add the flour. We used these pastels, and they are our favorites. We’ve used them for several projects!
Zip up the bag, and give it a good shake to color the flour. Again, the kids love to help with this step! Empty the bag into a bowl, add the baby oil and mix it up.
Here’s a short video tutorial showing how to make cloud dough:
The girls were delighted to see how realistic their “ice cream” looked — and they didn’t have to worry about it melting! For pretend cherries, we used red Model Magic from Crayola.
I love how this provided them with hours of great pretend play fun!! Clara was quite fond of her pretend cloud dough ice cream floats.
They loved taking turns being the server and customer. And they have big plans to add other “flavors” to their shop!
Oh, and they were particularly happy that I let them use a REAL ice cream scooper!
Yum!!
When you’re done playing for the day, cover the containers with lids and your cloud dough can be used over and over again.
Have you tried making cloud dough?? We would love to hear about it. Leave a comment and share your stories with us!
Love this idea!!!! We have made cloud dough before but not with pretend play. Will definitely be doing this.
Maybe your girls would like to print out the free play money from my Candy Shop download http://www.growingplay.com/candyfree.html – it would make a nice colorful addition to their ice cream shop.
Thanks so much, Margaret — I KNOW the girls will LOVE the play money!! I’m off to print some out now… xoxo
Dear Valerie,
Dipping into my baking supplies again, I see… 😉
Love,
Mark
Guilty. 😀
we’ll have to add this to our summer fun plans with the addition of a trip to the local ice cream shop afterward!
Yes!! That would be perfect!!!
Hmmmmm…… that seems even easier to make than playdough. I’ll have to give it a try.
It’s TOTALLY easier to make than playdough — have fun!!!
Can’t wait to do this. What about using a bit of food coloring to make different “flavors,” would that work??
Thanks, Debra — it’s so much fun! Food coloring doesn’t work well for this, but you might be able to get away with colored chalk if you use more of it. Hope this helps! 🙂
Any water-based coloring would not mix with the oil:-)
This looks fabulous, Valerie! What an inviting set-up! The chalk pastels look like they did a great job colouring the dough. I wanted to colour ours, but heard that food colouring just wouldn’t cut it.
Off to share this now!
Yay — have fun!!
OK- it looks so “real” that I might accidentally eat some!
(I have a serious ice cream addiction…) :0)
I don’t blame you — we HAD to have some real ice cream after playing with this all afternoon! 🙂
We love Cloud Dough at the Clubhouse, and using it in pretend/dramatic play is always a favorite. We’ve never done an ice cream shop though, how fun!! We made a Chocolate Cloud Dough once, using whole wheat flour (because of it’s brown color) and adding Cocoa powder to the mix. That may work great for another flavor for your shop! 😉
WOW, Liz!! That is SUCH a great idea!!!!! Thanks so much for sharing — can’t wait to try it!
YAY!! I read this, had the ingredients and made it. They just spent 2 hours playing with it outside. You are the best!
That is AWESOME!!!!!!!! I’m SO happy you did this!! 😀
Is this similiar to moon dough? Meaning….. is this an “outside” activity hahha
btw… havent been to your site for awhile and I love the new layout and your profile pic!
lol — yes, I would use it outside, Gina. It comes right off of the kiddos, but the flour might make a mess on the floor/furniture..?
I’m SO glad you like the new layout & pic!! Thank you!!!!
This looks so fun! I’m wondering about different methods to add color. Sounds like liquid food coloring won’t work well. Do you think Kool-Aid powder or dry tempera added to the flour would work? Maybe we’ll just experiment and find out. Thanks for your wonderful ideas!
You are brilliant! This looks like so much fun!
I hope you don’t mind me using a photo and linking back to you as part of my 101 Days of Summer Fun for Kids series! http://www.motherhoodonadime.com/kids/101-days-of-summer-fun-for-kids/
I’m sure I’ll find more of your fun ideas to share, too!
SO FUN! I would love for you to link up to Summer Activities for Toddlers , a collection that will be up ALL Summer long.
http://www.cheeriosandlattes.com/summer-activities-for-toddlers/
Happy Summer,
Mackenzie 🙂
I love the pink cloud dough! What a fun pretend play set up!
I love this! We will DEFINITELY be adding this to our summer bucket list. All 3 of my kids would love it!
We made cloud dough for the first time a few weeks ago. I love your ice cream shop idea. Will definitely be pinning this one! 🙂
this is awesome! I’m excited try make this kind of dough. My son will surely love it.
Wow! What a great, but oh so simple idea! Hope you won’t mind me sharing this on my blog, with a link back to you of course!
So glad I found you!
Thanks for linking, Victoria! Have fun!! 🙂