If you read our post on Tuesday, about our favorite construction truck books, you already know how much we love learning about new things through literature. But we also enjoy learning through play. And what better way to learn about construction vehicles than putting them into action? So we grabbed our favorite trucks, and created a mini construction zone, with this incredibly easy Cloud Dough Construction Dirt. Let’s dig!
For this particular invitation to play, I purchased this set of 6 construction vehicles on Amazon – it includes: an excavator, dump truck, forklift, front-end loader, cement mixer, and steamroller. Our daughter loves that they are actually functional (the cement mixer spins, the excavator can dig and spin around, the bed of the dump truck raises up and down, etc.).
Before construction began, our little nugget wanted to sit down with her new construction trucks and match each and every one of them to the various vehicles in her construction books. This brief activity ended up being a great way for her to associate each truck with the movements and tasks it’s capable of accomplishing. Once she had all of the trucks matched up, she was ready to dig!
Cloud dough is an incredibly fun (and completely taste-safe) sensory material. It is fluffy and dry, and it won’t stick to your hands. You can ball it up by squeezing a handful tightly in the palm of your hand, but it also easily crumbles. Traditional cloud dough is typically made in an 8:1 ratio of flour and vegetable oil (8 cups of flour, to 1 cup of oil). In order to create this particular dirt-colored cloud dough (and still keep it taste-safe for the kiddos) you just need to add one more ingredient…cocoa powder!
Cloud Dough Construction Dirt
Ingredients:
- 3 Cups Flour
- 1 Cup Cocoa Powder
- 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
Note: The above measurements are for a single batch…I tripled the measurements to make enough dirt to fill our plastic tub (as seen in the photos).
Instructions:
- Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and stir vigorously, or beat with a hand-held mixer, to get all of the ingredients thoroughly incorporated.
- Transfer the cloud dough dirt to a large container, tub, tray (or whatever you want to use for your construction zone). If you want to keep the dirt around for awhile, I recommend storing it in an airtight container.
- Add construction vehicles and start digging! Alternatively, you can add some trees…or some fencing and farm animals. Get creative!
Our little nugget loved using her construction trucks in the dirt. She scooped up dirt with the excavator and front-end loader and then transferred it to the dump truck. And she enjoyed smashing down the dirt and creating little roads with the steamroller. We also decided to create a giant boulder for the front-end loader to haul around.
When your little ones tire of construction play, remove the trucks and let them continue exploring with the cloud dough dirt. If they are anything like our daughter, they will happily bury their hands (and even toes) into the soft dirt!
I first stumbled across this brilliant cloud dough dirt idea over on the @play_at_home_mummy Instagram feed.
Do your kiddos love playing with construction vehicles? Which truck is their favorite? Where is their favorite construction zone at home? Do they take their trucks into the sandbox, or into a dirt pile outside? Or do they just enjoy driving them around the house? I would love to hear all about their favorite construction play, in the comments below.
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