As part of simple, tactile play – cloud dough can be squashed, squeezed, rolled, flattened, chopped, cut, scored, raked, punctured, poked and shredded! Each one of these different actions aids fine motor development in a different way, not to mention hand-eye coordination and general concentration.

It is for these reasons that I use cloud dough so often, and for some many different learning experiences. Many young children are tactile learners and require the sense of touch to interact with the world around them. Because we are learning about all things related to skeletons, I combined cloud dough, a diagram of skeleton, and our thinking minds to learn more about anatomy!

There were two components of this activity. Students first named three different bones (the skull, ribs, sternum, and femur).   They then used their fingers to roll up cloud dough (baby oil and corn starch) into the different bones. Lastly (with help from Miss Carrie), they connected their pieces to create a full skeleton!