We decided to make ‘cloud dough’ today, slightly adapting the recipe from Tinkerlab. I put 6 cups of flour and 1 cup of oil into a large tray and let the boys mix it up and play. We tried all our play dough toys and several items from the kitchen and, of course, cars. The boys loved it.
But after a while they decided it need an additional ingredient. Rainwater. So the boys transferred the rainwater that had collected in their water table into the cloud dough mixture. At first it was such a sticky mess that they were both put off. After they’d worked it for a while, however, it became very dough-like and they had great fun shaping it into snakes, balls and pancakes. It was an important lesson for me in embracing the process and not aiming at a particular product. It also reminded me why we do these projects outside–my kids make everything extra messy.
but rain dough is better
Now we can make a real mess
The Outdoors Parent 
That’s so great! And you’d never know what would have happened if you didn’t make room for them to follow their own ideas.
I like what the “missing” ingredient tells you about the child. I did this with Ruth (btw we found a ratio with more flour to be better when using baby oil, more like 9:1, and it did smell lovely), and she suggested adding glitter. Lots of it.
Maybe we should devise a new toddler temperament test: give them cloud dough and ask what it’s missing. Wish my kids had added glitter!