How To Make Silky Smooth Moon Sand Kids Will Love (A Great Sensory Activity)

Our “recipe” for homemade cloud dough or moon sand kids love uses just two ingredients. The kids loved running their hands (and toys) through the silky smooth sand…and so did I! I have been compensated by Johnson’s® Baby for this post; however, I am sharing my own thoughts. All opinions are my own.

When I’m working from home, I like my workspace to be neat and tidy. Nice and quiet too. And if perchance there is any noise, it’s usually from a playlist that I’ve created just for me. One that inspires creativity, but doesn’t distract me from writing.

Occasionally, my office will fill with some joyous background noise like the sound of my hens laying eggs in the backyard or the dogs snoring, but that’s about it. It may sound boring, but I really like it this way.

Unfortunately, when my kids are home from school, they want the exact opposite. They like their play spaces to be wild and messy. Loud and fun. The bigger the mess and the louder it is, the happier they are! Needless to say, we butt heads a lot.

To avoid this at all costs (I hate getting cranky with my kids!), whenever I know that they have a day off from school and I have work that needs to be done, I plan ahead. For example, this week, they were home for Parent-Teacher Conferences so I made sure that I had enough homemade sensory activities ready to go at the drop of a hat. This way, when they wanted to be messy and wild, I was ready for them. I simply placed an online order at Walmart.com and had all of the supplies shipped directly to my door. Score!

Moon Sand Kids Love

I’m not sure if you’ve ever heard of magical moon sand or cloud dough, but it’s really amazing. Using just two ingredients that you probably already have at home, flour becomes a silky smooth sensory experience for kids both young and old.

Since I’m a sucker for any craft activity that allows my kids to get messy and calm down, I was psyched when I found out that I could make moon sand at home. This sensory activity is really messy, so if you’re a neatnik, you should probably kick the kids outside for this one.

I was just so happy to have an hour of peace to do my writing, so I let my crew do it inside. You might think that having a batch of moon sand on your dining room table was a recipe for disaster, but it wasn’t really. My kids just chilled out and spent way more time than I thought they would shoving their hands into the cloud dough and making airy hills and mountains out of it.

Unlike play dough, homemade moon sand does not hold its shape well, but kids can make shapes with it. The flour becomes super silky and soft. Cloud dough is more about the amazing texture than about the building capacity. It’s a weird sensation to describe which is why I highly encourage adults to play with it too. It’s a very relaxing sensory activity.

How To Store Moon Dough

Homemade moon dough or cloud dough can last indefinitely when stored in an airtight container. Right now, we have our batch stored in little ziplock baggies and it’s just fine. However, a sturdy Tupperware container would be a better storage solution; I just didn’t want to part with any of mine for this activity!

Will I have to buy special “ingredients” to make homemade moon sand?

Nope! Not with this recipe. Ours just uses any old white flour that sitting in your pantry and good old JOHNSON’S® baby oil, which I always have on hand. In addition to it being the secret ingredient in our homemade cloud dough recipe, I also use it to remove my eye makeup each night!

Come to think of it, I use JOHNSON’S® baby oil a lot. I use it to:

get my rings off when my fingers swell,
to soften my cuticles (so I don’t bite them – eww, it’s a nasty habit!)
help remove adhesive bandages from my kids’ sensitive skin,
as a quick trick in windy weather to keep my cheeks from getting chapped,
and, lastly, to remove gum from my daughter’s hair! (Yes, this has happened to us more than once!)

Anyway, to answer the question: These two ingredients are most likely found in your home right this very second! So, without further adieu, here’s our “recipe” for making moon dough at home!