Baking Soda Dough

Recipe for Play - Baking Soda Dough

We love creating recipes for play, and some of our favorites include cloud dough, play dough, and foam dough.  Are you sensing a dough theme?  Sensory doughs are so much fun and typically very easy to make.  This baking soda dough is no exception!  Only two ingredients are needed for the base dough, and then you can add color and scent as desired.

How to Make Baking Soda Dough

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Supplies:

• baking soda
• water

optional:

• liquid watercolor paint or food coloring
• Kool Aid
• essential oils
• vinegar

Directions:  To make baking soda dough all you need to do is mix baking soda with a small amount of water.  I made four batches and used roughly two cups of baking soda per 1/4 cup of water.  The measurements do not need to be exact.  To make our baking soda dough scented and colored I put two cups of baking soda in a mixing bowl, added one packet of Kool Aid, sprinkled with liquid watercolors, then slowly added in the water.  If you use Kool Aid there will be a bit of a reaction when you first add the water since Kool Aid and baking soda react together when water is added.  Once the mini eruptions died down I mixed the baking soda dough together with my hands.

Once each batch was mixed I poured them all into a bin and invited the boys to play.  JZ (6) pointed out each color to my toddler twins and made them repeat after him.  It was pretty amusing.

One of the most intriguing aspects of colored doughs is mixing the colors together.  I think this is true for any sensory material.  

Like cloud dough, baking soda forms together.  If it's too crumbly and won't stick, add a tiny bit of water.  I like to add the water slowly to avoid using too much.

Adding Kool Aid to the baking soda dough made this a multisensory experience.  JZ kept lifting handfuls to his nose and smelling it again and again.  I think Kool Aid might be the best scent in the whole world ever.  

Baking soda dough can be stored in an airtight container or ziploc baggie for future play.  If it dries out, add a small amount of water before playing again.

Of course you can also add vinegar to baking soda dough to make cool eruptions!  This is usually the route we go.  Once all the colors have blended into a grayish brown the vinegar usually comes out for some erupting fun.

For more recipes for play follow me on Pinterest.

More dough recipes:

Scented Cloud Dough ~ Color Surprise Playdough ~ Apple Pie Dough