gluten free cloud dough {12 months of sensory dough}

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Cloud dough is moldable, soft, squishy, lovely.  I love that this sensory dough is safe for baby.  That doesn’t mean it is “edible,” but it’s fine for baby to put a little in the mouth.

My family is mostly gluten free.  This is due to the fact that my son breaks out in a rash at the touch of gluten.  Thus, why we have to make gluten free sensory play!  This wasn’t too challenging, but I doubt that our gluten free cloud dough is as soft and velvety as the wheat flour kind.  But so what?!  My kids certainly don’t know the difference!

Sensory play can enhance language skills!

We didn’t do much with reading or writing for today’s sensory play.  My kids were playing well together and so excited to be allowed to get so messy, that I didn’t want to interfere with their fun.  Some Reading and Writing activities could include:

• writing a letter with objects (such as blocks) in the cloud dough
• writing a letter with a finger in the dough
• searching for small plastic letters in the dough {you could use my free upper and lowercase charts}
• building words with hidden letters in the dough

Speaking:  My 17 month old daughter was so excited to be part of the sensory play today.  I ask her what she likes about it, what she feels, what she thinks.  When I hear her responses, I can repeat and expand what he says by using more complex speech. “Oooh!”  “Ooh it feels so soft, doesn’t it!?” Even at her very earlier age, this shows her sentence structures and teaches a broader vocabulary.

Listening: Listening to what they have to say about the experience.  This may be inaudible in younger children, like my daughter.  Sensory play may bring out new sounds or words in their vocabulary — words and noises that come with the play time!  Encourage this language building time by sitting down and simply hearing them.

Viewing: Let your child play without interference.  You can be there without jumping in.  Allow them to experience the senses they are experiencing around them.  (Of course, always use caution when choosing materials that are age-appropriate and ability-appropriate for your child.  If they are still “mouthing,” don’t give them inedible sensory items!)

Invitation to Play

I gave them two bins of cloud dough, along with our All-Clad measuring spoons and cups and some egg cartons.

They helped me to combine it further….  It was pretty crumbly before we really mixed it with our fingers…. Making balls…. and then crushing them…. John loved the egg cartons and had lots of practice with pouring, filling, and pounding….

Gluten free cloud dough recipe

Regular cloud dough is so simple.  You can check out Fun At Home With Kids for the cloud dough recipe.

But gluten free cloud dough is a bit different.  I wanted to get the right ratio and I think I came awfully close.  I didn’t just use rice flour, because I think it would have been too crumbly.  I chose to add an all-purpose baking flour, and I think coconut flour would have worked too.  I felt weird going to the store and buying soybean (vegetable) oil because every fiber of my being is terrified of the stuff — I know many people consume it, but poly-unsaturated fatty acids are a killer — give me saturated or mono-unsaturated any day.  Off topic… back to my cloud dough… I combined:

• 4 cups rice flour
• 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose gluten free baking flour
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil

We just stirred until we got a crumbly consistency and could make “balls” that could stay together before having fun crushing them :)

John loved clean up time, once again {as with our Foam Dough sensory dough}, but he did’t follow through as well. He loves using his broom and dust pan. When children have the tools to work on their own, to do it themselves, they will have a sense of pride in their independence and be eager to do housework!  Our sensory play extended itself into practical life work.  

This post is a part of the Best of the Best Sensory Doughs: 12 Months of Sensory Dough!  Every month, on the 12th of the month, we will be sharing a post on a different sensory dough.  

Here are the wonderful co-hosts:

Lemon Lime Adventures, Delightful Learning, Glittering Muffins, I Heart Crafty Things, Little Bins for Little Hands, Look! We’re Learning!, Natural Beach Living, Powerful Mothering, Still Playing School, The Eyes of a Boy, The Life of Jennifer Dawn

Do you have a post on Cloud Dough that you’d like to share? Please link below!  Please read the following guidelines before linking up:

• Share family-friendly posts related to the month’s theme. Feel free to link old or new posts that highlight your favorite recipes for sensory dough. Failures and unsuccessful attempts are welcome.

• We ask that no posts are linked with copy/paste recipes from other sources. If you use a recipe from another source, please link back to the original recipe.

• By linking up, you give permission to share your post and one photograph in future posts and through social media channels.

• The linky will remain open for two weeks. On the 12th of each month, all co-hosts will post a new dough with their spin, highlighting at least one post from the month before and pin each post to the 12 Months of Sensory Dough Board.