Make Play at Home: Cloud Dough

21 June 2023

Modern Art Oxford runs Make Play workshops for children aged 6 months to 5 years. Our next in-person sessions don’t start until 3 August, so we thought we would bring Make Play to your homes. Created by Mills Brown, Producer of Early Years and Families, we have digitised our most popular Make Play sessions, so you can now enjoy them in the comfort of your own home.

Blue and purple graphic with hand-rendered pink text with a blue outline reading: Cloud Dough. Illustrated white clouds surround the text.

A fun alternative to play-doh recipes, this super squidgy scented dough was a favourite from our Marina Abramović Make Play sessions. This recipe only takes five minutes of preparation for endless joy.

Ingredients	Tools	Extras
Baby Lotion	Mixing bowl	Food colouring
Cornflour	Spoon	Essential oils
	Surface (tray, board)

Lets Play!

Black and white illustration depicting baby lotion and cornflour being poured into a mixing bowl.

Step 1) Add ½ cup of baby lotion to your bowl along with 1 cup of cornflour and mix thoroughly with a spoon.

Black and white illustration of hands trying to mix dough with a spoon in a bowl.

Step 2) When you can no longer mix with the spoon, transfer the dough to a tray or piece of baking parchment.

Black and white illustration depicting an hand kneading dough.

Step 3) Knead the dough until smooth. (Don’t worry if the dough feels crumbly or sticky at first, just keep kneading. You can always add more cornflour or baby lotion as needed to reach the desired consistency.)

Step 4) Once the dough is malleable and soft it’s ready to be used.

Step 5) Play!

Tip – This dough can dry out quickly, so it’s best to use immediately after preparation. If it dries out while your child is still playing, simply massage some more baby lotion into the dough.

To Try! – For extra sensory fun, add in essential oils, scented lotions or food colouring when making the dough.

And that’s it! Stay tuned for our next Make Play at home, Crazy Soap. Coming to you in July.

As a charity, our at-home digital projects are only made possible by your generous support. Find out how you can keep supporting creative projects like this here.