Cloud Dough Recipe (2 Ingredients!) (2024)

Why You’ll Love This Activity

• Easy to make: This simple recipe only requires 2 ingredients, and no heating or cooking. It takes less than 5 minutes to make from start to finish.
• Super smooth texture: Even if you love regular play dough, this recipe is worth trying at least once. It has a smooth, silky, airy consistency that is unlike anything else we’ve tried.
• Soft on sensitive skin: Unlike traditional salt-based play dough, cloud dough won’t dry out your child’s hands. It is a great option for children who suffer from eczema or dry skin.
• Gluten-free: This activity is safe for kids who have gluten intolerance/sensitivity or coeliac disease. (If you’re looking for a play dough recipe that is gluten-free and edible, you can try this Baby Cereal Play Dough Recipe.)

Required Ingredients

• Baby lotion: My favorite is Johnson’s newborn face and body lotion, but any type of skin or baby lotion will do. You can also use conditioner, but lotion is soft on sensitive skin and gives the cloud dough a light, silky texture.
• Cornstarch: You may know it as “corn flour” if you live in the U.K.
• Food coloring (optional): Liquid food coloring and gel food coloring will both work, but I recommend gel food coloring because the color is very concentrated and you won’t need to use as much. You can also use one of these natural food dye alternatives, or even liquid watercolor paint (which is cheaper than food coloring and has the advantage of being washable).

Helpful Tips

• Stick with a 1:2 ratio: I used used ⅓ cup of lotion for ⅔ cups of cornstarch, but you can make more or less as long as you stick with the same proportions (twice as much cornstarch as lotion).
• Use a bigger bowl than you think you’ll need: This will help prevent the cornstarch from flying all over the place during the mixing process.
• Wear gloves: Consider wearing gloves to avoid staining your hands with food coloring while you knead the dough.
• Use a bin during play: Cloud dough can get a bit crumbly, so playing with it inside a bin will help limit the mess and make the cleanup easier.
• Keep some lotion on hand: If the dough dries out and gets too crumbly during play, add a bit of lotion and work it in with your hands to make it soft again.
• Use a vacuum cleaner: If some of the cloud dough gets on your floors, a vacuum cleaner is the easiest way to clean it up.

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• ▢ ⅓ cup baby lotion or skin lotion
• ▢ food coloring or liquid watercolor paint as needed
• ▢ ⅔ cup cornstarch (known as "corn flour" in U.K.)

• Pour baby lotion into a mixing bowl and add a few drops of food coloring. Stir until combined.

• Add cornstarch to the bowl. Stir with a spoon until you can no longer continue, then knead the dough with your hands until smooth.

• Add more baby lotion or cornstarch as needed to achieve the perfect consistency. Start playing immediately.

1. Storage instructions: To store cloud dough, wrap it in plastic wrap as tightly as you can and place it inside a sealed zip-top bag or airtight container. (Zip-top bags work best because they are more airtight.)

2. Fixing cloud dough that has dried out: To restore the texture cloud dough that has become dry or crumbly, add a bit more lotion and work it in with your hands.

3. Limiting the mess: To limit the mess and make the cleanup easier, keep the cloud dough in a bin during play and vacuum up anything that lands on the floor.

4. Helpful tips:

• Stick with a 1:2 ratio:Recipe proportions can be modified as long as you respect the 1:2 ratio of lotion to cornstarch.
• Use a bigger bowl than you think you’ll need:This will help prevent the cornstarch from flying all over the place during the mixing process.
• Wear gloves:If you decide to add color, consider wearing gloves to avoid staining your hands while you knead the dough.