There is so much fun to be had with simple sensory play activities. Lately the boys have really been enjoying cloud dough (aka moon dough) and we decided to experiment with making some chocolate cloud dough. I made this a couple of different ways to see what worked best.
The very dark chocolate cloud dough that you can see at the top is a pure chocolate cloud dough which was made with only two ingredients and the lighter one at the bottom is more like regular cloud dough but with a chocolate scent and flavour.
If you don’t know how to make cloud dough, it’s basically flour and oil at an 8:1 ratio. To make the pure chocolate cloud dough, I substituted the flour for hot chocolate powder, since they are both of a powdery consistency. I used olive oil for the oil, since that is what I had on hand. I avoided baby oil since it has a strong scent and I wanted the chocolate scent to come through, also using a cooking oil makes this dough taste safe, and with a tempting flavour like chocolate that might be a safer option in case little ones can’t help themselves from having a try.
To make this chocolate cloud dough, I just stuck to roughly the 8:1 ratio and then rubbed the oil and chocolate powder together between my fingers until it formed a cloud dough consistency. As you can see here, it does roll up into a ball and is moldable just like the orginal cloud dough recipe. 
To make a large quantity of this recipe could get expensive though since chocolate powder is more expensive than flour. We made a small amount and played with shaping it into pretend chocolates. Silicone ice cube molds from Ikea are great for cloud dough play (they are handy for many other play activities too, like making crayons , ice paint, or making real chocolates) we have several of them in different shapes.
Mr R loved making the shapes with his chocolate cloud dough.
The lighter chocolate cloud dough that you can see in the top picture is the usual cloud dough recipe of flour and oil (again, we used cooking oil) and it’s flavoured into chocolate cloud dough by just adding a few heaped spoons of the chocolate powder and mixing it in to scent and lightly colour the cloud dough. After a while of playing we decided to mix both types together which gave great results for a medium strength chocolate cloud dough.
Mr R was really enjoying making the shapes, and since the cloud dough behaves a little like wet sand, we decided to make some cloud dough sand castles using an old beaker.
Filling….
ta daaa! Chocolate scented cloud dough sand castle. Of course Mr R couldn’t resist experiencing the scent up close. The “sand castle” shapes come out so smooth, and you can even pick them up and move them around, as long as you are careful it won’t crumble straight away.
Mr R made big and small versions and talked about their different sizes and similar shapes. It’s also lots of fun to crumble them all back down!
If you are looking for a convenient small tray for sensory play activities like this, I can recommend the tray Mr R is using from Ikea, because sometimes you don’t want to get out the big tuff spot every time! These are only 1 pound each, so I bought three – one per child.
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Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
I love this, it’s brilliant. It works so well, and the chocolate makes it so special – really nice post 🙂
thanks jenny! 🙂
Cloud dough is pretty cool – but we’ve never tried it with a chocolate scent before! Great idea!
looks great, I think my youngest would try to eat it
Love the idea of chocolate scent for the cloud dough!!! My son will love this, pinning!
My kids love playing with cloud dough and they would definitly like the addition of chocolate into the mix! I m off to pin…
This is so cool Anna. I am glad you made it safe to eat, as I think even I would be tempted!
#Pintorials
Ooh, I bet this smells so great! I will be sharing!
Thanks for linking up to TGIF! Have a GREAT weekend,
Beth
Oh, how fun!! It must smell so good. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!