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Cloud dough is a soft, crumbly play dough made from flour and oil. Squeeze it and it holds a shape. Brush it and it falls apart into powder again. Kids love it for scooping, molding and pretend baking. Ana Dziengel of Babble Dabble Do shows the basic two ingredient recipe, a colored version and a chocolate version that smells good enough to eat. It takes about five minutes to mix.
Ana prefers baby oil because it feels silky and smells clean. Canola, vegetable and olive oil all work the same way. Food oils are a better pick if your little one is still at the stage of tasting everything. Coconut oil works too, but it firms up in a cool room.
It is not toxic, but raw flour is not meant to be eaten and can carry germs. For a child who puts things in their mouth, heat-treat the flour first. Spread it on a baking sheet and bake at 350 F for about 5 minutes, then let it cool before mixing. Use a food oil, and stay close while they play.
If a child has a wheat allergy or celiac disease, swap the flour for cornstarch. Cornstarch cloud dough is silkier and a little looser, so start with 7 parts cornstarch to 1 part oil and add more starch until it holds a shape. Skip nut oils for kids with nut allergies, and check the label on your candy coloring.
Regular water-based food coloring will not mix into oil. It beads up and makes sticky spots. Oil-based candy coloring blends straight into the oil and gives even color. Powdered tempera paint or crushed sidewalk chalk also work. Stir the powder into the flour before you add the oil.
Keep it in a lidded container at room temperature. It lasts for weeks. If it gets dry and will not hold a shape, knead in a teaspoon of oil. Throw it out if it smells sour or gets damp.
Hand over measuring cups, spoons, cookie cutters and silicone molds. Pack the dough into a bowl and turn it out like a sandcastle. Hide small toys for a dig. Chocolate dough is perfect for a pretend bakery.
Want something stretchier? Try homemade slime. For a dough that holds fine detail, make playdough. Kinetic sand is a close cousin of cloud dough, and salt dough ornaments are a good next step when kids want to keep what they make.
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How to make cloud dough with flour and oil in 5 minutes. An easy project: about 10 minutes. Materials cost about $2 to $5. You need 9 things, including all-purpose flour, baby oil or vegetable oil and oil-based candy coloring. The 9 steps start with measure the Flour and Oil for Cloud Dough, stir the Flour and Oil Together, knead the Cloud Dough Until It Holds a Shape and mix Candy Coloring Into the Oil for Colored Cloud Dough.
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Cloud dough uses one simple ratio: 8 parts flour to 1 part oil. Put 2 cups of all-purpose flour in a large bowl. Then measure a quarter cup of oil. Ana likes baby oil, but canola or olive oil works as well. Pour the oil over the flour. Double everything for a bigger tub of dough.
Use a bowl bigger than you think you need. Flour flies when kids help stir.
Stir the oil into the flour with a spoon. At this point it looks like dry, lumpy sand, with a few wet patches where the oil landed. Keep stirring until most of the flour has touched some oil and you see small crumbs forming. It will not look like dough yet, and that is fine.
Let kids do the stirring. This part is hard to get wrong.
Now use your hands. Squeeze and rub the mixture between your palms to work the oil through. You know it is ready when a handful pressed together holds its shape, then crumbles when you brush it. If it stays powdery and will not clump, knead a little longer or add a teaspoon more oil.
Too greasy? Sprinkle in a spoonful of flour and knead again.
For colored dough, start a fresh batch with 2 cups of flour. Measure a quarter cup of oil, then stir a few drops of oil-based candy coloring into the oil before it goes in the bowl. Mixing color into the oil first spreads it evenly. Regular food coloring is water based and will not blend with oil.
Powdered chalk or tempera paint also works. Stir it into the flour instead.
Pour the colored oil over the flour. You will see bright streaks and spots of color on the white flour. Stir it in with a spoon to start, the same way you did the plain batch. The color looks patchy at first. It evens out as you work it with your hands in the next step.
Make one bowl per color, then line them up for a rainbow tray.
Knead the dough with your hands until no white streaks are left. It takes a minute or two of squeezing and rubbing. The finished dough should be one soft, even color all the way through, and it should still hold a shape when you press it. The blue batch here came out light and fluffy.
Candy coloring can tint hands for a bit. It washes off with soap.
Chocolate dough is a favorite with Ana's kids, and it needs no coloring. Take a bowl of plain cloud dough and sprinkle in a few spoonfuls of unsweetened cocoa powder. Start with about a quarter cup for a 2 cup batch. Add more for a darker brown. It smells like brownies.
Remind little ones that it smells like chocolate but is not for eating.
Stir the cocoa in with a spoon, then knead it with your hands until the color is an even brown. The cocoa adds a soft scent and makes the dough look like cookie crumbs. Kids use it to make pretend cakes and cookies. If it feels dry after the cocoa, add a few drops more oil.
A pinch of cinnamon gives it a spiced cookie smell.
Time to play. Pack the dough into cups, bowls or silicone molds and turn it out like a sandcastle. It holds a crisp shape until you poke it. Cloud dough is messy, so set it up in a big plastic bin or outdoors on an old sheet. Store it in a lidded tub between play sessions.
Press it down hard into the mold. Packed dough releases in one piece.
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How to Make Cloud Dough: Basic, Colored and Chocolate
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