How to make soap foam dough - a fun homemade play dough alternative for kids! It's a great sensory dough recipe for kids of all ages.
We have created a new favorite sensory dough recipe: soap foam dough!
This soap foam dough quickly became a favorite of my youngest son's. It is moldable like play dough, but snaps cleanly like silly putty.
It is super simple to make, uses only two ingredients (or three if you want colored dough), and takes only a few minutes to prepare.
It uses ingredients you likely already have on hand, requires no cooking, and is easy to clean up since it just melts when water is added to it.
Intrigued yet?
I know you are.
What is Soap Foam Dough?
Soap foam dough grew out of my kids' love for soap foam sensory bins. It makes a lovely alternative to play dough and is way easier to make. Like I mentioned above, there's no cooking involved, like traditional play dough. There's also no weird ingredients that you might not have on hand (like cream of tartar).
It's just a simple homemade play dough alternative that's a fun sensory experience for kids.
My three year old wanted to make red, purple, and green dough. Isn't it lovely?
But what is really neat about soap foam dough is that it snaps cleanly like silly putty.
Since soap foam dough can snap in half like it does, it makes it the perfect sensory dough for exploring fractions. Or for stacking.
The dough looks even more pretty when the different colors are combined. The end result is a beautiful marbled dough.
This dough cleans up really easily since it is made with soap, but before cleaning up, why not turn the soap foam dough into some colorful, messy oobleck. Simply add some water to the soap foam dough until it has an oobleck like texture (usually it's a 1:1 ratio of water and cornstarch).
Ready to make soap foam dough? Find out how to make this sensory dough below.
How to Make Soap Foam Dough - A Fun Sensory Dough for Kids!
This soap foam dough is just one of the beautiful activities you can find in my book Pop! Squirt! Splash!, but to give you a little taste of what you will find in the book, I will show you how to make this beautiful dough.
To make soap foam dough, you will need:
- 2 cups of foaming hand soap (or make your own soap foam)
- 3/4 cup of cornstarch
- 1/4 tbsp of liquid watercolors (optional)
To make soap foam dough, combine the foaming hand soap with the liquid watercolors in a bowl. I actually make my own foaming hand soap with castile soap. Slowly add the cornstarch. Mix and knead the dough until it is smooth. You may need to sprinkle up to 1/2 tbsp more cornstarch into the dough or add extra soap if needed. It should not be sticky and the dough should snap in half when you put pressure on the ball of dough. Here's a video tutorial for making the dough:
Other Sensory Dough Recipes to Try
Love this activity? Well, you can find it and many more wonderful hands-on activities for kids in the brand new book Pop! Squirt! Splash! Hands-on Activities for Kids Using Soap, Water, & Bubbles! Or take a peek at these other fabulous activities:
Soap Shaving Bookmark from Sugar Aunts
Hands-on Activities Using Soap, Water, & Bubbles from Where Imagination Grows
Water Play: Sorting Land & Water Animals from Still Playing School
Floating Soap Boats from Fireflies & Mudpies
DIY Angry Birds Knock Down Game from Lalymom
Gross Motor Color Mixing from House of Burke
Jell-O Soap Foam Sensory Play from Fun-A-Day!
Soap Cloud Painting from Mamas Like Me
