Struggling to come up with something to do with your kiddos today? I had been holding out on this whole moon sand (cloud dough) thing for a while and finally took the leap of faith yesterday and ohhhh my goodness. It exceeded my expectations by a long shot and had both of my two-year-olds completely engaged for, I kid you not, a full 30 minutes of quiet and focused work. I got to make a nice dinner, they got to be completely immersed in their work and we were all the better for it.
Here’s how I set it up:
I wanted to try to do two colors but didn’t have any of the fancy ways of dyeing it AND I also wanted everything to be edible…just in case.
In two separate bowls I put about 1/2 cup of flour in each. I also wanted to do something where the colors would combine so I went for a red and a yellow so that, when mixed, we would get orange (MAGIC!) It turned out to be more red/orange mixed with super pale yellow so the color change isn’t what it would be if you used paint powder but we were still in awe as two became one (spice girls reference anyone?)
In one bowl I sprinkled in about 1 tbs of paprika for the red (can you tell I never measure anything?) and in the other I did about 1 tbs of curry powder for the yellow. You can get creative with whatever you have in your kitchen that you think would turn it a different color- just make sure it is in powder form and let me know if you come up with anything amazing so I can try it too!
Then I melted some coconut oil (I think you can do ANY type of oil you have on hand, some do baby oil) and added a little bit at a time (maybe it was 1tbs total?) until it was crumbly but would hold together a little when squeezed. Mix it with a fork. You want it to seem dry and not wet. One bowl I added too much oil but that was easily fixed by adding more flour.
Then I poured the mixture into two sides of a bin (so the girls could have fun mixing them!) and added my favorite scoopers I always have on hand- spoons and measuring cups. Can you imagine how amazing it smelled?! Talk about sensory! Coconut and curry spices and paprika- it gave us so many things to talk about aside from just texture.
They had so much fun exploring the textures, noticing the different smells and making galletas (cookies) by pressing the sand together.
Spanish words we practiced and reinforced:
Arena ah-reh-nah – sand
Blando blahn-doh – soft
Apretar ah-preh-tahr – to squeeze
Mezclar mehs-klahr – to mix
I hope this helps fill your days with engaged exploration for the kiddos and quiet time for you!
