How to Make Cloud Dough
Cloud dough is so squishy and delightful! There are a few different recipes out there for it, but this recipe needs only two ingredients and whips up in just a few minutes. My kids play with this stuff non stop and think it’s the coolest thing ever. (It pretty much is. 🙂 )
Cloud dough’s consistency is different than play dough’s, but can be used largely the same. You can mould and build with it, but I think the most fun thing to do is simply squish it in my hands! It seriously feels super light and fluffy and is a great sensory activity. Since it’s made with hair conditioner, it also smells AMAZING the whole time you’re making it and playing with it! Make sure you pick a scent of hair conditioner that you like because you will be smelling it a lot.
This cloud dough recipe is also really great because it is dirt cheap to make! The two ingredients you need to make this are corn starch and hair conditioner, both which can be bought for just a couple dollars at the dollar store or Walmart. You can add food coloring if you want, but that’s totally optional.
How do you make cloud dough with two ingredients?
We’ll dive right into how to make cloud dough, but first you need supplies.
Cloud Dough Supplies
- 1 cup Corn starch
- 1/2 cup Hair Conditioner
- Mixing bowl
- Measuring cup (I used 1/2 cup, but you can scale it up or down with a different size cup.)
- Mixing spoon (optional)
- Food coloring (optional)
Also check out how easy it is to make rock candy at home, or crystal geodes!
Set Up
Making cloud dough tends to be a bit on the messy side so you will want to make sure that you are intentional with where you make it. I put down a disposable table cloth when making mine, but also fine to make it in a spot thats easy to clean with a rag.
Making the Cloud Dough
Math opportunity: This is a perfect opportunity to talk to your kids about ratios. The ratio for this recipe is two to one. Two parts corn starch, one part hair conditioner. You can discuss it with them while you make the cloud dough. (I used a half cup measurer to make mine, but you could scale it up or down depending on how much you want to make.)
In your mixing bowl put in one cup of corn starch. (Or two parts if you’re talking with your kids about ratios.)
Next add 1/2 cup of hair conditioner. (One part)
Mix it all together really well until it becomes a dough. At some point during the mixing process the mixing spoon will become unusable because of how thick the dough gets. Set it to the side and dig in with your hands. You’ll want to knead the dough for a couple minutes.
If you find the dough is still a bit sticky after you’ve mixed it really well, add a touch more corn starch and mix it in. Be careful when doing this though because if you add too much corn starch to the dough, it will become crumbly. Just add a little bit at a time until it’s not sticking to your hands.
If you are not adding food coloring then your cloud dough is done!
Optional Food Coloring
If you decide you want to add color to it, you can divide the dough out into sections and pick a color for each section. I suggest starting with just one drop of food coloring and adding more as desired.
If the food coloring gets on your hands, it can stain your skin. One thing that I like to do to help prevent it from getting on my hands is to place the food coloring in the middle of the dough, then fold the outsides over on top of it again and again so that the food coloring is always on the inside. Doing that until it’s mixed with the dough keeps it from getting on my hands while being mixed.
That’s it! The cloud dough is ready to be played with!
Something to note: If you let the colors touch each other, they will stick to each other and you probably won’t be able to fully get one color off of the other. So just be aware of that while playing with it.
Can you make cloud dough with flour and conditioner?
After I made the video for this recipe I got a million questions all asking the same thing. “Can you use flour instead of corn starch to make cloud dough?” Honestly I didn’t know at the time so I tried it out for myself and even made a follow up video showing how it turned out. I found that using flour instead of cornstarch made a super sticky mess! What I ended up with was totally unusable and I would never let my kids play with it. So my answer to this question is no. You can’t use flour instead of corn starch.
Can you make cloud dough with corn starch and shampoo?
This was also a very popular question people asked after I first posted this recipe. I also addressed this in the follow up video I did and I can tell you that it “kind of” worked. The texture was more grainy and no where near as soft. It stayed a bit more sticky as well and I wasn’t as happy with it as I was the regular cloud dough. My answer to this question is it depends on what you’re willing to play with. Like I said, it’s a bit more sticky and not as soft, so you’ll have to decide if that’s something you want to deal with or not.
Does cloud dough dry out?
Yes, yes it does! I store mine in ziplock bags when we’re not playing with it, but it will dry out even in the bags. I found that it stays good for a few days and then it will start to get crumbly. It will also get crumbly if you play with it too long or leave it out too long. (Think a few hours.) However, it’s not totally a bad thing. Sure you don’t have the smooth fluffy cloud dough you once had, but the crumbly dough can make for it’s own sensory fun! Just put it in a bin and let the kiddos play with it. I can almost guarantee they will have fun with it crumbly as well as fluffy.
Why is my cloud dough sticky?
I did address this in the directions on how to make it, but I still get asked this question. Usually the cloud dough will be sticky if there isn’t enough corn starch in the mixture. Most of the time it’s not a problem, but every once in a while you’ll need to add a touch more corn starch. Just add it very gradually and keep mixing it in until you have the consistency you want.
Final Thoughts on Cloud Dough
Now the cloud dough is finished and ready for play! When you’re all done playing you can keep it in ziplock bags or tupper ware. If you leave it out it will dry out and turn crumbly causing it to fall apart if you try to play with it again. Depending on how much it’s played with, it should last a few days in the bags before it gets too dry. I hope your little ones (and you) get a lot of fun play time with your cloud dough, and good use out of the recipe. Thanks for reading!
