Looking for an easy way to make a no-cook, gluten free and super soft playdough? This Cloud Dough recipe is a fun twist on our traditional playdough recipe. We love that it’s only 2 main ingredients and can be scented with lotion. If you like making your own homemade playdough, then you definitely want to try this recipe!
RELATED: Playdough Recipe
Cloud Dough
This is a great recipe to make if you’ve never made playdough before. It’s really easy to make since it’s only 2 main ingredients and no cooking required! Kids also love the texture of this dough. It’s the softest dough you will ever try!
For our traditional playdough recipe, see it here.
You can make a few batches with different colors or choose your favorite. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and then put in an airtight container to keep it fresh and long lasting.
How To Make Cloud Dough
This is a no cook playdough recipe. It’s perfect if you want to make some playdough and you don’t have access to a stove top or kettle. The mixture comes together easily in 5 minutes (it’s fast!).
This is also gluten free!
The consistency of this dough is different than regular playdough. It is a lot softer but also dryer to the touch and it is common for it to crumble a little when playing with it.
Here are the ingredients you will need:
- Cornstarch
- Lotion
- Food Coloring (optional) – we like this liquid food coloring gel in neon colors because you only need a few drops
How Do I Store Cloud Dough?
To help your dough to last as long as possible, it’s important to keep it as airtight as possible so that it doesn’t dry out. Wrap each color of cloud dough in plastic wrap and then place it in an airtight container to help it stay soft. If you find that your dough has become a little dry, you can add a little bit of extra lotion and knead it in.
How Do I Keep the Dough Soft?
First wrap your dough in saran wrap then store in an air-tight container or Ziploc bag. You’ll notice that dough will go hard if left out – so the less air that can get to the playdough when storing, the longer it will last!
How Do You Make the Dough Soft Again?
If your dough dries out or turns out to be a little dry after making it, try adding in a little more lotion. If the dough is too sticky after making it, add a little bit more cornstarch.
What Do I Do if It’s Crumbly or Sticky?
If your cloud dough is still crumbly. You need to add more lotion. If you find it gets too sticky when you add more lotion then you are adding too much lotion. Add a little bit at a time and knead it. You will need to knead it for quite some time in order to get it to the right consistency. If it’s still too crumbly, then add a tiny bit more lotion. If it’s still too sticky, then add a tiny bit more cornstarch.
How Long Does It Last?
This dough will not last as long as our traditional playdough recipe. The lotion will start to dry out from it within a week. However, you can easily revive it by just adding a few extra squirts of lotion to it and kneading it in. This will make it almost like brand new again.
Cloud Dough Recipe
Cloud Dough
Materials
- 1/2 cup lotion regular lotion or baby lotion
- 1 cup cornstarch also called cornflour
Instructions
- Add 1/2 cup of lotion to a bowl. Add 1-2 drops of the food coloring (if using concentrated gel, if using regular food coloring you'll need more drops to color) and mix.
- Mix the lotion and food coloring until combined.
- Add 1 cup of cornstarch and mix.
- Mix until combined.
- Then take out the dough and place on some wax paper. Knead with your hands (you may want gloves here so your hands don't stain). Keep kneading until it forms a dough-like consistency (this may take 5-10 minutes). It will feel really sticky at first, just keep kneading. If after kneading for the full length of time it is still too sticky, add another tablespoon of cornstarch. If it's too crumbly, add a tiny amount of lotion in at a time and knead it in until it becomes the right consistency.
Video
Notes
Once your cloud dough is finished, use cookie cutters and rolling pins to play with it!
To store: simply put the playdough in plastic wrap and store in an airtight container to help it last longer. If the dough dries out, add a few extra squirts of lotion to it and knead back in.
More Playdough Recipes
See our Kool-Aid Playdough recipe.
Would this recipe be enough for multiple colors? Or for only 1? Just trying to determine how much to make for 1 child with the colors in your picture 😘
It’s enough for 1 color but you could split it in half and make 2 colors with it with smaller amounts of each.
will it look fine after drying? i want to make fake macaroons as a bake sale decor. Hope they wont crack after drying
This recipe is not for drying – it’s for playing with like playdough.
so good my child loved it so much!!!!!
when it dries, will it crack/crumble?
And, can one use coconut oil instead of lotion?
It will eventually dry out and you can add more lotion to it to make it the same consistency. No you cannot use coconut oil instead.
So fun! I had to add quite a bit more starch than the recipe calls for, and tried it with 2 different lotions but both worked out great. I made an orange batch and a green batch to do a little Pumpkin-making activity with my 2 year old 🙂
Sounds wonderful. Is the coloring made from natural ingredients or are they synthetic/harmful dyes (not food grade)?
You can use any kind of food coloring you’d like so you can use natural dye if you’d like!
it was fun
Good I always tried to make cloud dough and it never works but this work
What kind of lotion works ?
Live clean bedtime lavender okay?
Yes any kind of body lotion works.
Can I use all purpose flour instead of the cornflour?
No you can only use corn starch for this recipe to work properly.
I used potato starch instead of corn starch and it worked out fine!
if i use 1/2 cup of cornstarch then how much lotion will i need to make cloud dough
You would need 1/4 cup of lotion.
I want to make this for 26 kids. what should I multiply your recipe by?
You could probably split 1 recipe between 2 kids so then you would want to make 13 batches. Hope that helps!
I wanna make this for 30 kids how much ingredients should I use??
Each recipe would be enough for 2-3 kids to share.
can’t stop playing with it! It is soo awesome 👏
Tried it! Nice and soft. Does stick to hands a bit but it’s really easy to make and fun to play with. Does not stain hands after you knead it. 13 month old loves it!
Does the food colouring stain your hands once it’s kneaded?
No, once it’s fully kneaded it it does not stain hands. 🙂
Love it
Is it supposed to kinda crumble or stick to my hands?
It should stay together, if it starts to crumble or dry out just knead a little more lotion in.
AMAZING Done this for my students and they loved it
Looks like so much fun! Can’t wait to try it with my teenagers and kindergartens.
Looks great can’t wait to try it; the grandchildren will love this!