Three Ingredient Snow Dough Late January and early February always feel like the blah part of winter, I think, and that has definitely been true this year! After a stomach bug and a head cold made the rounds in our house last week (well, they’re still circling but on their way out… ugh…), we needed something to improve the mood around here. This three ingredient snow dough did the trick!

I found this recipe in Family Fun magazine and modified it to fit the large quantity I was going to need to make.

To fill a shallow rectangular under-the-bed box, I used:

  • 4 – 16 oz. boxes of cornstarch (96 cents each at Walmart)
  • 2 1/3 cups of vegetable oil
  • Glitter – Not sure how much, but it takes a lot! The magazine used white glitter, but we only had silver. I just used the amount we had on hand.

Stir all the ingredients together and knead it with your hands until it is thoroughly mixed. This dough does not need to be stored in an airtight container – because of the oil, it won’t dry out. Not sure how long it lasts, but I think it will easily last until you are ready to throw it out anyway.

Three Ingredient Snow Dough

This dough is really a fun sensory experience! It’s soft and crumbly, but when you squeeze it, it crunches like real snow. You can form it into a snow ball or build snowmen out of it and then crumble it up again. The magazine said that you can add more oil to make it less crumbly, but the boys liked it the way it was.

We added some sticks, rocks, and animals for play.

Three Ingredient Snow Dough

Gresham (7) and Owen (4) have spent a LOT of time with this snow dough! They end up getting a little on the floor, but it’s easy to clean up. Jonathan (2) is another story! He absolutely loves the feel of the dough. After he explored it for the first time, he stood up and announced, “FUN!” However, at his age, it’s hard to keep the dough in the box and off his clothes! If you’re going to do this activity with 2’s and 3’s, I would recommend putting an old sheet down under the tub for easy clean-up, or play with it outside. I would also do old clothes. A little on their clothes is not a big deal, but since there is so much oil in this, I’m not sure that a toddler’s clothes will come totally clean. Thankfully, most of Jonathan’s clothes are in the “old play clothes” category since multiple other boys have worn them!

Three Ingredient Snow Dough

Because vegetable oil is yellow, it makes this snow a little yellow-y! If yellow snow bothers you, you could always use baby oil. It wasn’t worth the extra purchase for me, and the glitter does help with the yellow look. 🙂

For more winter fun:

8 Comments

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  1. Emma (My Little 3 and Me) Jan 24, 2014

    This looks great. Using the baby oil is a great tip too.

    Reply
  2. Emma Jan 24, 2014

    I love the animals and rocks you added in to the snowy scene too! (Hope everyone is feeling better in your house now!)

    Reply
  3. Tampa Balloon Guy Jan 25, 2014

    This looks like fun! Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Sally Jan 28, 2014

    We'll defintiely do this! We're learning about animal habitats and this will be great to create our arctic habitat. Thanks for sharing.

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  5. Kaly Feb 28, 2014

    You could always try coconut oil - it's white and smells delicious!

    Reply
  6. Pamela Dec 12, 2014

    Sounds like a ton of fun! Do you remember if the corn starch stayed pretty well contained? I made moon sand this summer, and the powder was constantly rising in the air with each scoop of the shovel. I didn't like the fact we were breathing it all in - plus it left a fine dust on my already dusty furniture. grin.

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  7. Suzanne Holt Dec 29, 2014

    Perfect suggestions when you want to play with snow and there isn't any. Pinned to my "Sensory Experiences for Children board."

    Reply
  8. Denae Haberman Nov 16, 2017

    Do you know if the texture will be the same if you use baking soda rather than cornstarch? Just curious.

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