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PSPKK12313 Comments

Sensory Play for Letter C

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cloud dough and coins for letter c- the measured mom

Cloud dough is one of those play recipes that you must make because it’s just too easy not to.  If you follow a lot of learning blogs, then you’ve probably seen it dozens of times.  But for the sake of those who might not know what I’m talking about…

cloud dough and coins (3) - the measured mom

This is all you need.  Mix eight parts flour to one part baby oil.  We made two big batches of 16 cups of flour to 2 cups baby oil.  I used almost two bags of flour and about 1 1/2 containers of baby oil.

cloud dough and coins (4) - the measured mom

Since my four oldest kids (ages 2,3,5,6) would be playing with the cloud dough, we made two large containers of it.

cloud dough and coins (5) - the measured mom

My Five and Six mixed the flour and baby oil until they were fully combined. If you’ve never experienced cloud dough, you should make it at least once just to enjoy the smell and texture.  While you can use a different kind of oil, baby oil gives it a nice scent.  The texture of cloud dough is a little like wet sand.  You can squeeze it in your fingers, but it falls apart easily.

You just need to try it!

cloud dough and coins (6) - the measured mom

After mixing up the cloud dough, the kids just explored it with their hands for a while.  Then I took out a bowl of coins that they had helped me count.

cloud dough and coins (8) - the measured mom

We dumped the coins into the cloud dough, and they searched for coins as they played.  My Six, who is finishing up first grade, knows all her coins and their values. But I wanted to give her preschool-aged brothers a chance to differentiate between coins and start to learn their names.

cloud dough and coins (9) - the measured mom

As they found the coins, the kids came over to the printables (sorry, I don’t have these anymore) and matched the coins.  I encouraged them to name the coins as they did so.

cloud dough and coins (10) - the measured mom

Soon after matching all the coins, their younger brother (age two) came down from his nap. He had fun playing with cars in the cloud dough.  The kids also pulled out a bunch of kitchen utensils.

Kitchen utensils + cloud dough = a good idea

Toy cars + cloud dough = not so good

Because cloud dough is made with flour, it’s not so nice when it’s wet.  So trying to clean the flour and oil mixture out of crevices in the toy cars didn’t work so well later on.  Just a tip.

cloud dough and coins (11) - the measured mom

My Five and Six played with the cloud dough the longest.  They played so long that I had to go upstairs to feed the baby who had just woken up.

cloud dough and coins (12) - the measured mom

At which time my Five ran upstairs to tell me something he felt was important enough to track cloud dough onto the stairs.

I vacuumed it up later.

Another bad idea.  Don’t vacuum an oil and flour mixture if you don’t want your vacuum to get gummed up.

Sigh.

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Filed Under: Math Tagged With: preschool, first grade, kindergarten, money, sensory play, Pre-K

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Reader Interactions

13 Comments

  1. Maryam

    November 28, 2017 at 6:08 am

    Hello,
    It is very wonderful.
    I enjoyed it very much.
    I am working at money museum, I am trying to find different ways of teaching money to kids , it was a very good and interesting way of teaching money. I will do it for kids.
    Thank you very much

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      December 3, 2017 at 5:49 pm

      I’m glad you like it!

      Reply to this comment
  2. Anna Geiger

    September 24, 2016 at 2:59 pm

    I haven’t tested to see how long it will last, but if you put it in a container with a cover, it will last indefinitely. I think the longest we’ve kept ours has been a few weeks.

    Reply to this comment
  3. JanaDee

    December 29, 2015 at 12:36 pm

    I did this with my girls today as part of our Money unit. My six year old really got into it and she is an expert at sniffing out and refusing games or activities where you may *gasp* learn something in the process.

    I didn’t have baby oil so I appreciate your comment about using a different oil. I used vegetable oil but put in some lavender essential oil and it smells great πŸ™‚

    Thanks so much. I love your blog.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      December 29, 2015 at 6:49 pm

      Yay – I’m glad you had fun with this one, even your six year old. πŸ™‚ Thanks for taking the time to tell me about it, JanaDee!

      Reply to this comment
  4. Kendra

    October 8, 2015 at 6:54 pm

    Vacuuming is what I would do, too. So if that is not a good method, what do you suggest?

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      October 17, 2015 at 7:12 pm

      Sorry for the delay in answering this, Kendra! I would suggest doing this over a big plastic shower curtain if you have to do it on carpet. Otherwise, sweeping it up works well when you do the activity over tile floor.

      Reply to this comment
  5. Laura

    July 9, 2015 at 12:12 pm

    Trying this today. Love the picture of the stairs… It happens all the time at my house. Thank you so much for all of your ideas. We’ve had so much fun using them to learn!!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      July 21, 2015 at 8:50 pm

      I hope you had fun with it, Laura!

      Reply to this comment
  6. Lindsey

    January 11, 2015 at 9:29 pm

    I will definitely be doing this . I know my son will LOVE this cloud dough he loves things he can play in with his hands πŸ™‚ can’t wait and oh so fitting since we have been learning about money! πŸ™‚

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      January 12, 2015 at 4:25 pm

      Have fun with it, Lindsey! Just learn from my mistake and keep it off the carpet. πŸ™‚

      Reply to this comment
  7. Nerida Gibson

    December 29, 2014 at 3:55 am

    This looks like a great idea! I definitely have to try it out with my Preppies next year with Australian coins!

    Thanks!

    Nerida πŸ™‚

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      January 12, 2015 at 4:25 pm

      I think they’ll love it, Nerida!

      Reply to this comment

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