Three Ingredient Cloud Dough

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My preschooler loves ice cream so I thought it might be fun if I created some sensory play around that for her! I found this “recipe” for Cloud Dough on Pinterest that would be the perfect fit.

There are lots of ways to make your own play dough at home, all different types depending on what activity you’re doing. This one has a lovely scent (which works out well for our ice cream activity), feels fluffy & incredible, and is technically taste safe in case a small amount ends up being eaten — it’s tempting, I get it! 😉

My preschooler played with this for at least an hour straight, so I highly recommend it as an engaging play activity.

INGREDIENTS:

1 x 16oz. Container of Frosting

2 Cups of Powdered Sugar

1/2 Cup of Cornstarch

Put powdered sugar into a mixing bowl and then empty the contents of the frosting container into it. Mix together until a sticky dough forms and then add in the cornstarch.

I know it looks crazy, but trust the process. 🤣 Once it gets to the consistency seen above, I give up on my spatula and just use my hands to finish kneading the dough.

We found that 1/2 a cup of cornstarch was perfect for the dough consistency that we wanted, but you can use less or add more than that amount to get the texture you prefer.

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We have also used chocolate and strawberry flavored frostings to get different colored (and scented!) doughs!

You could probably color the dough yourself by adding a few drops of food coloring to the vanilla frosting (*before adding to the powdered sugar / cornstarch) if you wanted to have more “flavor” options beyond the [Neapolitan] flavor trilogy, but I can’t speak to the details of that because we’ve only made the classic trio of flavors.

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STORAGE

If you plan to use the dough for more than just the day, you will want to keep it in an air tight container. I’ve seen others say that their Frosting Cloud Dough has kept for over a week, but Sophie is usually done playing with it by Day 4.

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ICE CREAM SHOP PLAY

I neglected to include a photo of the printables we used to bring our Ice Cream Shop to life, but this set from Goodnight Fox is so pretty and we love to use them!

These reusable ice cream cones are made by Nature Based Toys. Sadly, she is permanently closing her shop soon so if you’d like to support her I highly recommend the purchase. If you miss out on placing an order with her I’ve linked some similar options in the widget below!

I also included links for all of our ice cream shop equipment, such as our pints, scoop, cones, and other ice cream play sets.

I have honestly enjoyed playing with this cloud dough almost as much as my preschooler has! Highly recommend whipping up a batch for playtime.

Sending hugs —
xx, Natalie