cloud dough
april 5
Use everyday ingredients to bring fun in the sun into your home! In this week’s #STEAMwork sensory play, make your own cloud dough or kinetic sand, and learn about some of the fun chemistry behind what makes it stick.
what you’ll need
ingredients:
flour, any kind
oil, any kind – to make it safe for our youngest learners, use cooking oil, like olive oil or vegetable oil
materials:
a measuring cup
a large bowl
a fork, spatula, or your hands to mix everything together
directions
First, you’ll want to measure out five (5) cups of flour and put them into your bowl. Then, you’ll want to measure out one (1) cup of oil. Use your fork, spatula or hands to mix your flour and oil together!
No matter what size measuring cup you’re using, be sure to put 5 scoops of flour into your bowl and one scoop of oil using that same measuring cup because the recipe for this activity calls for a 5:1 ratio of flour to oil.
If the flour is still not sticking together, add small amounts of oil to the mixture. If it’s too oily, add small amounts of flour. Your final product should be dry to the touch and able to hold a shape.
ways to engage in deeper learning
Silicones are polymers, or molecules made up of long chains of repeated units. This property is known as viscoelasticity.
Once you have your kinetic cloud dough, try molding the kinetic dough into shapes or slicing it with a plastic knife.