I feel so cheated. How could we have missed out on something so fun, so tactilely tantalizing, so messy? And I suppose, I just answered my own question.
Worn out from cleaning up all the other messy play experiences, and lulled into a sense of "it's just one more in a series of dough" kind of mentality, when my own children were toddlers and preschoolers, and I saw the recipes for cloud dough sweeping across the blogosphere, I decided to skip it.
My Sunday school lesson, for the preschool class, tomorrow, is on Elijah praying for rain though, and cloud dough seemed to make sense as a "creative play" go-along.
I found myself mixing up a test batch, tonight. Most recipes call for 1 part baby oil to 8 parts flour (so 1/4 cup of oil for 2 cups of flour). I substituted vegetable oil for the baby oil, because it's what we had on hand - and it seems to be working well.
It's a moldable dough, that holds together when squished, but falls back apart when crumbled or smashed. Which is so much more enjoyable than it sounds - trust me!
I cut up a mold sheet from one of last year's advent calendars to press our dough into...
...C and E (ages 9 and 10) added a couple of paper cups...
...and we've been playing happily all evening.
Making up for lost time.
I feel cheated as well. I think I will have to make a batch.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Dawn
Fun! Good to know cooking oil works just as well.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, we have played with this many, many times and we keep it until it starts going off and the children start finding black bits of mold hanging about in it!! It's lovely to have you back :)
ReplyDeleteI keep intending to do it, but then it gets knocked back further down the list.
ReplyDeleteCloud dough is so much better with older kids. It is really hard to clean up if it turns into a big mess.
ReplyDeleteNow you are tempting me to try!
ReplyDeleteI've also read that vegetable oil is good to use if you have a kid who tries to eat everything on the world. :)
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