# Sweet Smelling Rose Cloud Dough
> Mix flour with rose-scented oil and red powdered paint into a pale pink, moldable cloud dough for a Valentine's sensory bin. Kids mold it with cookie cutters, cups and spoons, then dig for hidden gems and count them.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/valentines-day-activities-sweet-smelling-cloud-dough/
- Ages: 2–5 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: high
- Time: prep 15 min, activity 30 min
- Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class · one batch serves about 2 kids
- Skills: sensory-exploration, sense-of-smell, fine-motor, pretend-play, counting, comparing-quantities
- Cautions: wheat-gluten, ingestion-risk

## Materials (one batch)
- 8 cup All-purpose flour (household)
- 1 cup Baby oil or vegetable oil (household)
- Rose-scented oil
- Red powdered paint
- 1 piece Shallow tinfoil baking pan (household)
- Cookie cutters (hearts) (household)
- 1 piece Small cups (household)
- Spoons and measuring spoons (household)
- Acrylic gems (hearts, stars, flowers) (optional)
- Grape twigs (left from a bunch of grapes) (optional) (household)

## Safety
- Not for tasting: raw flour, oil and powdered paint are not food. The author kept tasting 'seriously forbidden' because of the inedible ingredients. Raw flour can also carry germs.
- Gems are small parts and a choking hazard for toddlers. Supervise closely and count the gems back in at the end.
- Rose or fragrance oils can irritate skin and eyes, and some children are sensitive to strong scents. Use a modest amount and wash hands after play.
- If you use baby oil (mineral oil), keep it away from mouths. It is harmful if swallowed and inhaled.
- Mix the flour and powdered paint gently to keep dust down, and avoid breathing it in.
- Grape twigs can have pointy ends. Supervise when kids use them.

## Steps
1. Pour 8 cups of flour into a shallow tinfoil baking pan.
2. Add the rose-scented oil a little at a time, keeping a bit back, and mix well.
3. Squeeze a handful to test it. Keep mixing until the flour holds its shape.
4. Sprinkle in red powdered paint and mix until the dough turns pale pink. Add a little more oil if needed to even it out.
5. Set out cookie cutters, cups and spoons, and let the kids play!
6. Scoop mini ice cream balls and pack cups to make upside-down cakes.
7. Stand grape twigs in the dough to make a little woods.
8. Hide gems in the dough and have each child dig them out and drop them into their own cup.
9. Count the gems in each cup together and decide who found more.

## Tips
- The kids loved the fragrance of rose oil and kept taking deep breaths. It was so funny!
- The oil measurement is just for reference, so add or reduce it to your preference. But remember the flour should hold its shape when manipulated.
- Add the rose scent to any sensory play you set up and be prepared for the oohs and aaahs from the kids.
- Sneak in some math: we counted the gems in each kid's cup and my preschooler decided who had more.
- Our toddler didn't mind having fewer gems. She decided she could just grab a fistful from her sister's cup!

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2013)

Continuing with our Valentine's Day Activities we have our favorite sensory material : Cloud Dough. I know, we love our rose scent. Sweet smelling roses have proven to be a great way to introduce the a sensory play activity with an emphasis on sense of smell to my toddler with sweet smelling cloud dough. This sensory activity turned out to be a wonderful triple sensory project which stimulated three senses: sense of touch, smell and sight. Sense of taste was seriously forbidden ( although the toddler occasionally tried to tease me by experimenting with that one) since we added a few inedible ingredients. Add the rose scent to any sensory play you set up and be prepared for the oohs and aaahs from the kids. In the rare chance that you are new to cloud dough here is the recipe.

- 8 cups of all purpose flour
- 1 cup of oil baby oil/vegetable oil

For our very fragrant Valentines Day cloud dough, we used

- Red Powdered Paint

In a shallow tinfoil baking pan, I added the flour and the sweet smelling rose oil ( hold on to a bit of oil) and mixed well until the flour became moldable. It has to hold its shape when manipulated. Later I added the red powdered paint until the flour turned pale pink. If you need more color, add more powdered paint and add some more oil to get the mixture nice and even. The oil measurement is for reference, add or reduce to your preference. But remember the flour should hold shape when manipulated. The kids loved the fragrance of rose oil and kept taking deep breaths. It was so funny!



I placed cookie cutters, cups and spoons ad let then PLAY!



They made mini ice cream scoops and upside down cakes





Woods with grape twigs

 We also played a treasure hunt game which turned into a math game. I hid lots of gems in the cloud dough and had them find them and drop them in their respective cups. That game was lots of fun for them. Also, it won’t be me if I DIDN’T sneak in math in the game. It was counting time for my toddler. Once they found their gems, we counted the gems in each kid’s cups and my pre schooler decided who had more. MathThankfully toddler did not mind that she had fewer gems ( and cry obviously) since she decided she could just easily grab fist full of gems from her sister’s cup. That’s another story for another time.



Our gems from the cloud dough beach



Some cookie cutter heart creations. Doesn’t it look like a cloud dough beach?



Our sweet smelling rose cloud dough for your valentines day celebration with the kids.



###

### More Valentine's Day Activities we have done:

### [Rose Scented Play Dough](https://www.funlittles.com/valentines-day-activities-rose-scented-playdough/)

### [Easy "Hearts" Art.](https://www.funlittles.com/valentines-day-crafts-melted-crayon-hearts-art/)

### [Hearts Butterflies](https://www.funlittles.com/valentines-day-crafts-hearts-butterflies/)

### Thanks for reading

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