You will surely want to dig your hands into this! Cloud dough or moon sand is an awesome and simple sensory recipe that is quick to whip up. Our apple pie scented cloud dough is also taste safe. Cloud dough is fun sensory play with all the supplies already in your kitchen. Adding apple pie spices to sensory play is a great way to engage multiple senses all at once.
FUN SENSORY PLAY WITH APPLE PIE CLOUD DOUGH!
APPLE THEME FOR FALL
Young kids love themed sensory play ideas for the changing seasons and holidays. There are tons of fun ways to engage toddlers to preschoolers with sensory play while even including simple science concepts. Adding an apple theme is the icing on the cake!
Check out more of our awesome apple theme activities here or click on the picture below.
WHY USE A SENSORY BIN?
Sensory bins and other sensory activities are a neat way to have fun and learn at the same time. You can pair activities with books or add letter/number activities to them! Sensory bins are also amazing for social/emotional development as well as practical life or fine motor skills.
Plus, sensory ideas are incredible tactile sensory input for kids who love to feel everything! Read more about all of these ideas in the resources below.
- All About Sensory Bins
- Favorite Sensory Bin Fillers
- Super Simple Rice Sensory Bins To Try
- Ultimate Guide To Sensory Activities
APPLE PIE SENSORY BIN
This is the easiest sensory play recipe and makes for a great sensory bin filler. It’s a bit on the messy side, so you may want to be prepared by putting a blanket or tablecloth under your apple pie sensory bin. However, the cloud dough will sweep up or vacuum up nicely.
This cloud dough recipe will make a taste safe, sensory play material for all kids. It won’t be yummy and really shouldn’t be consumed like a snack. However, if you have kids who like to taste their play materials, this apple pie cloud dough recipe is a great alternative!
APPLE PIE CLOUD DOUGH RECIPE
Only 2 basic ingredients, flour and cooking oil make it simple to make anytime. We added gems to our apple pie sensory play. Try apple chunks if you need a taste safe alternative for toddlers. And of course we added apple pie spices.
YOU WILL NEED:
- Flour
- Cooking Oil
- Apple Pie Spice {or combination of spices on hand}
- Large Bin {for play}
- Red Gems or Acrylic Apples from Craft Store or Apple Chunks {taste safe}
- Bowls and Spoons for Apple Pie Making
HOW TO MAKE APPLE PIE CLOUD DOUGH
1. Mix 5-6 cups of flour and one cup of cooking oil in a large bin. It will be messy at first!
The mixture should hold together pretty well when squeezed into a ball. It will be pack-able and mold-able too. Once completely mixed it becomes less messy on the hands.
2. Sprinkle in your spices to the desired scent and get ready to fill the house with the wonderful smell of apple pies!
3. Add in red gems, small plastic apples, or even real apple chunks.
This scented apple pie sensory bin is perfect for a Fall Day!
Cloud dough provides tons of tactile sensory play. Scented apple pie sensory play is also perfect for the body’s olfactory system! Spices are a a great way to incorporate scent into a sensory play experience! We love llemon scented rice and cinnamon scented rice too!
Great options for pretend play with our apple pie cloud dough! Provide a pie plate for kids to make their own apple pies. We also love these two apple scented play dough recipes you can find here and here.
TRY: Apple Sauce Oobleck for a combination of science and sensory play.
BAKING AN APPLE PIE
If you are busy baking apple pies this Fall, keep your kids busy with their own apple pie baking experience!
We filled the dish with a “crust” and then we spread out the “apples”. It really felt like crust and since we were using flour and oil, it felt like we were really baking!
Now I can’t wait to make a real pie or crumble with him after we pick apples this fall. We scooped and filled and patted and spooned more crumble on top. Of course it had to bake (for like 10 secs) and we had to try spoonfuls of it!
It is fun to mold and holds it shape for a bit (not great for really sculpting though like play dough)!
We enjoyed about 45 minutes of apple pie sensory play which is great for young kids! You can easily leave it out for more play the next day. If the dough feels dry, add a touch of oil to get it to the right consistency again! We think it’s the perfect, last-minute sensory play idea!
MORE FUN WITH CLOUD DOUGH
- Pumpkin Cloud Dough
- 10 Fun Cloud Dough Recipes
- Hot Cocoa Cloud Dough
- Ocean Theme Moon Sand
- Making Craters with Moon Dough
ENJOY FALL WITH APPLE PIE SENSORY PLAY!
Here are more easy sensory recipes to make at home!
Jennifer Fischer
I really love this sensory play idea! I will definitely be using it. It is perfect.
littlebins
Thanks again Jennifer! Can’t wait to see what you do!
Stacie
This is a really different idea and I love it! I am going to try this with my daughter. And this is perfect as fall is just around the corner.
littlebins
Thanks Stacie! I bet there are lots of baking variations you could do with it too!
thehappyhomechoolinghoosierhousewife
I am going to try this tonight with my kids + the babysitting kids! Thank you for sharing!
littlebins
Hope everyone enjoys it!
Beth
What a FUN sensory activity for September – LOVE it!
I am featuring this on TGIF today. Thanks for linking up and sharing your creativity with all the rest of us. Have a GREAT weekend,
Beth
Carrie
Oh, what fun!! My daughter would love this. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!
Kristen B
Love this sensory idea. Just in time for fall. Thanks for being our featured guest host at Artsy Play Wednesday. Pinned to my sensory board as well.
Georgina @ Craftulate
What a fun idea!
Chelsey
I just love this! 30 minutes is also a long time span for my kids to play as well. I can see how this could really entertain a child! So creative! Thanks so much for linking up to this week’s Discover & Explore!
Deb @ Living Montessori Now
This looks like so much fun … definitely a rich sensory experience! I featured your post and photo in my 30+ Apple Sensory Tubs post today. 🙂
littlebins
Thank you so much!
Shaunna @ Fantastic Fun and Learning
Love this idea! My girls will have so much fun with this “pie”. Thanks so much for sharing in the Discover & Explore linky. I’m featuring this post today.
Colette ("We're going on an adventure ....")
What a great idea!
Faye
I like how you plan to pair this sensory play activity to baking a real apple pie in the fall to add real-life experiences to learning. We do a lot of cooking in my home daycare. I know a few center-based educators who are not allowed to do this in their classrooms.
Michelle @ Delightful Learning
Love the “apples” in the apple pie! and the flour and oil crust – perfect!
littlebins
Fun and simple using what we have is my motto! Thanks and glad you enjoyed it!