Hot Chocolate Cloud Dough

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For this month’s play dough challenge we had to come up with a fun twist on a cloud dough.

We had a giant container of hot chocolate that there is no way we would drink ourselves, so I thought it would be fun to scent (and flavour!) our cloud dough to make a simple 3-ingredient hot chocolate cloud dough!

A fun sensory bin for winter, this 3-ingredient Hot Chocolate Cloud Dough is an amazing sensory activity for kids. (You can also make it with just flour and oil.)

Hot Chocolate Cloud Dough Recipe

Cloud dough is a fun sensory material that’s a bit unusual compared to anything we’ve ever played with before.

It’s soft and powdery to the touch, but you can also squeeze and compact it to make shapes. While many people use baby oil to make their cloud dough, I used vegetable oil to make this recipe more affordable and also so that I could include our youngest daycare children in our play and not have to be too concerned if they snuck a small taste!

(However, I did gently discourage eating as the cloud dough does contain raw flour and I wanted this cloud dough experience to be a good learning tool for other non-edible doughs. You can bake flour to make it more taste-safe.)

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I tried to pick a diverse selection of tools so that the children would have several ways to extend their play. All of the tools allow the children to practice practical life skills, such as scooping, opening containers, and learning about simple machines (the manual egg beater and sifter).

The children had so much fun squishing, patting, and swirling designs into the cloud dough, and they loved all of the add ons. Apparently, the addition of the tea cups was a good excuse to steal some sips of cloud dough!

I loved watching their minds work while they figured out the tools, and their focus on things like opening the cinnamon container. Working these small challenges into our sensory play is a wonderful way to engage children in learning, and learning new skills during sensory play has enormous benefits. Sensory stimulation can allow children to learn skills at a deeper level than if they were to just learn the skill on it’s own.

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Our cloud dough has been going strong for three weeks and it’s just as engaging every time I pull out the bin! If the children got bored of the bin, I would just add new tools to it – maybe this time we’d add cotton ball marshmallows, scoops, and spatulas, or go in a completely other direction and add construction trucks and road signs.

I have a friend who has been using her cloud dough bin with the same cloud dough for over 2 years – I threw ours out after a few weeks so I can’t vouch for how well it will hold up past that point.

 

Check out our quick how-to video to see how to make our hot chocolate cloud dough, and then don’t forget to scroll down to grab your printable recipe:

 

Hot Chocolate Dough Dough Ingredients

Scroll down to the printable recipe card for full measurements.

Tip: the exact measurements will vary based on your materials, look for a soft, powdery cloud dough that isn’t wet or sticky but can stick together when squished.

Kitchen Tools You May Find Helpful

  • Large Storage Container or Bowl
  • Measuring Cups and Spoons
  • Mixing Spoon
  • Various Kitchen Tools to play with

3-ingredient Hot Chocolate Cloud Dough - a winter sensory play experience that your children will love. Add old-fashioned baking tools for an added fine motor challenge. Cloud dough is so fun because it's silky and powdery soft to the touch, but can hold shapes.

How to Make Hot Chocolate Cloud Dough

If you want to make the flour taste-safe, preheat an oven to 350F.

Sprinkle the flour on cookie sheets and bake for 5 minutes. Allow to cool before proceeding with making your cloud dough.

Measure out the flour and hot chocolate mix into a large container. Add enough hot chocolate mix to get the colour and scent that you’d like – we added a lot because we had a giant container of hot chocolate, but less would have still sufficed.

Start with adding just 1 1/2 cup of oil to the dry mixture, fully incorporate it using your hands or a wooden spoon. You want the dough to seem dry to the touch, but also stick together if you grab a handful. Add extra in 1/2 cup increments until you reach the desired texture.

The cloud dough should be soft and powdery, not wet, and hold a shape when squished.

I also included several fun kitchen tools for the children to include in their play:

  • empty cinnamon container with cloud dough in it
  • manual flour sifter (great for practicing finger strength and dexterity)
  • teddy bear-shaped cake liners
  • tea cups
  • cookie cutters
  • manual egg beater
  • silicone tea cup “cupcake” liner

 

Pin this Hot Chocolate Cloud Dough for some fun Winter Sensory Play:

3-ingredient Hot Chocolate Cloud Dough, a winter sensory play experience that your children will love. Add old-fashioned baking tools for an added challenge and fine motor skill building

Grab our free printable recipe to make your own hot chocolate cloud dough with the kids:

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Yield: 10 cups cloud dough

Hot Chocolate Cloud Dough

Hot Chocolate Cloud Dough

3-ingredient Hot Chocolate Cloud Dough, a winter sensory play experience that your children will love. Add old-fashioned baking tools for an added challenge

Prep Time 5 minutes
Active Time 5 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Difficulty Easy
Estimated Cost $3

Materials

  • 8 cups flour
  • 2-4 cups hot chocolate mix
  • 2 cups oil

Tools

  • Measuring cups and spoons
  • Mixing spoon
  • Large storage container or bowl

Instructions

  1. If you want to make the flour taste-safe, preheat an oven to 350F.
  2. Sprinkle the flour on cookie sheets and bake for 5 minutes. Allow to cool before proceeding with making your cloud dough.
  3. Measure out the flour and hot chocolate mix into a large container. Add enough hot chocolate mix to get the colour and scent that you'd like - we added a lot because we had a giant container of hot chocolate, but less would have still sufficed.
  4. Start with adding just 1 1/2 cup of oil to the dry mixture, fully incorporate it using your hands or a wooden spoon. You want the dough to seem dry to the touch, but also stick together if you grab a handful. Add extra in 1/2 cup increments until you reach the desired texture.
  5. The cloud dough should be soft and powdery, not wet, and hold a shape when squished.

Notes

I also included several fun kitchen tools for the children to include in their play:

  • empty cinnamon container with cloud dough in it
  • manual flour sifter (great for practicing finger strength and dexterity)
  • teddy bear-shaped cake liners
  • tea cups
  • cookie cutters
  • manual egg beater
  • silicone tea cup "cupcake" liner

Pin this Project for Later

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Pinterest

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Check out these other fun ways to play with cloud dough:

Taste Safe Gingerbread Cloud Dough | Lemon Lime Adventures

Christmas Inspired Cloud Dough | Squiggles and Bubbles

Sugar Cookie Cloud Dough | FSPDT

Cotton Candy Cloud Dough (Taste Safe) | Powerful Mothering

Sight Word Cloud Dough | Sugar Aunts

Check out our other sensory play recipes here:

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3 Comments

  1. What type of hot chocolate mix did you use? Would plain baking cocoa work or does to need to be something like Nestle Quick or Swiss Miss?

    1. I got a big bulk container of Rolo Hot Chocolate Mix at Costco but plain cocoa powder would definitely work for this. We’re just using it for the smell and the fact that it is edible in case you have little tasters in your group.

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