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Sweet Smelling Rose Cloud Dough

Jan 23, 20135,416 views
Sensory bins
Valentine's Day Activities : Sweet Smelling Cloud Dough Save
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by TurkeyMom in Sensory bins

Ages2–5 yrs
Prep15 min
Activity30 min
Leveleasy
MessHigh
Works for1:1 · Small group · Class

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.

⚠️ Safety first

  • 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!from the author
  • 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.from the author
  • Add the rose scent to any sensory play you set up and be prepared for the oohs and aaahs from the kids.from the author
  • Sneak in some math: we counted the gems in each kid's cup and my preschooler decided who had more.from the author
  • Our toddler didn't mind having fewer gems. She decided she could just grab a fistful from her sister's cup!from the author

Make it your own

  • Press heart cookie cutters into a flattened surface for a 'cloud dough beach' scattered with gems.
  • Turn the treasure hunt into a counting and more-or-fewer game.
  • Use the same rose scent in play dough or any other sensory play.

The story behind it

By TurkeyMom · January 2013
Valentine's Day Activities : Sweet Smelling Cloud Dough
Continuing with our Valentine's Day activities, we have our favorite sensory material: cloud dough. I know, we love our rose scent.
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Sweet Smelling Rose Cloud Dough: the original post

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!

valentines day sensory play

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

set up for valentines day sensory play activities

They made mini ice cream scoops and upside down cakes

Woods with grape twigs

valentines activities with sensory materials 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.

valentines day sensory play

Our gems from the cloud dough beach

valentines day fun for kids

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

cloud dough play

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

cloud dough scented

More Valentine’s Day Activities we have done:

Rose Scented Play Dough

Easy “Hearts” Art.

Hearts Butterflies

Thanks for reading

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