While I have been obsessed with sensory tubs lately (please check out my post on them here). I was doing some research and came across something called Cloud Dough. (Which a lot of people have been blogging about). I have read that people have play-doh parties, water parties and even noodle parties (which by the way, I totally tend to have!) When I read that you can make something called Cloud Dough, all I could think was fun, fun, fun!
Please let me share with you my experience and maybe you will re-think the fun affect that you are going for. I know I did 🙂 Cloud dough, as I read, feels like sand. Let me say that again, sand. (It doesn’t. It feels like moist flour). Except this will soften your skin, which no doubt it did and does. Not that I am a “neat” person; however, I try very hard to keep my house in some sort of order, this activity will over take anything you have. That’s why, I did it outside. Thinking ahead, that’s a good start, but nothing nearly prepared me for what I was about to experience.
The ingredients are as follows: (Ready? Are you really ready for this adventure?)
- 8 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 cup baby oil
Oh my. I said it. Baby oil. If you know me, I’m not a “fluff” person. I will not tell you how wonderful something is if I didn’t have a good experience with it and I don’t beat around the bush. Ask anyone of my guests who attended one of my Pampered Chef shows. I am as real as I can be all the time.
Step 1: Put flour into a bowl of some sort
Step 2: Add oil
Step 3: Mix and combine
Now, I have read to use a masher or a whisk to work through the clumps. I used a fork. After five minutes of working it, there were still baby oil clumps but I thought it would be okay…..thought. Can I say that again?!
Here are some pictures of our TEN minutes of fun. TEN minutes. Let’s just say the Cloud Dough was not a big hit as I was anticipating it to be:
Curious. Curious is always good. What is that on my hand she thinks…
Son jumps right in. He has his dump truck, he’s having fun. Daughter…still curious.
“Wow Mom! This IS great!”
Mom not soo happy. It’s starting to get messy up in here. It may not look bad from this picture, but TRUST me. It’s messy. M-E-S-S-Y
Maybe she does like it after all….
Or maybe they just like to dump it out!
This is where my pictures ended. There are no more. Although this is a sensory activity and they liked to feel the Cloud Dough, their ten minutes of fun were up. Next, they went into the house. Covered in flour. Sliding across the wooden floors. Do you know why? There are clumps of baby oil! That’s right, BABY OIL! Try getting baby oil up from wooden floors…..
The sofa, floor, stairs everything covered. Need I say more? This mama likes to have fun and loves for her kiddos to try new and adventurous tasks. With 8 cups of flour smeared into the deck that I needed a vacuum (clearing throat, yes a vacuum!) to remove all the flour PLUS a hose for all stuck in the cracks, plus new clothes, plus another vacuum of the stairs plus a scrub on the floors. It’s just not worth it to me.
Would I do this again? Nope. However if you do, just prepare yourself. Put a plastic sheet below to catch the mess, wear old clothes, put a mat in front of the door. Two hours of cleaning is not worth the ten minutes of fun to me. And to top it off, they didn’t LOVE it like I wanted them to. Good news, we all had very smooth skin like a baby’s buttom. (Sigh….moving on.) I’m going to make another version of play-doh next. No mama’s, it’s true. I just don’t learn.