Inspiration from Nature || Book "Once Upon a Cloud" by Claire Keane

Does any part of your life require inspiration?

I, as a teacher, am always looking for inspiration because I want to find new fun ways to teach children.

When was the last time that you were so inspired by something?

And what did you do with that inspiration?

Today I want to introduce a book that can guide children into a dreamy world and inspire them to use their imagination.

Book “Once Upon a Cloud” by Claire Keane

“Once Upon a Cloud” is a story about a girl who was looking for a perfect gift for her mother and journeyed through the sky one night. She meets stars, the sun and the moon during her journey. She gets inspiration from them and finally finds a perfect gift for her mother.

The magic of this book is in the illustraion for me. Dreamy illustrations that fill the whole pages can help young children really fall into the girl’s journey and be imaginative.

These are two of the illustrations in the book.

Book “Once Upon a Cloud” by Claire Keane (https://www.claireonacloud.com/book-1)

You can ask many imaginative questions after reading the book together.

☁ Imagine you are being blown into the sky, what will you see?

☁ What colour is the wind?

☁ How high can you go up?

☁ How are you feeling around the stars?

☁ What do you want to do when you meet the moon or sun?

☁ What do you want to remember from the trip to the sky?

☁ If you were Celeste, what would you make for mom?

These questions will put your child in Celeste’s place and help go deep into her/his imagination.

If your child loves this story and imagining the magical world, extend the interest by providing an opportunity to represent their thoughts.

Create with Cloud Dough

Making cloud dough

Materials

Hair conditioner
Corn starch
Glitters

How To

In a medium size mixing bowl, add the equal amount of corn starch and hair conditioner.
Mix well together.
Add more corn starch or hair conditioner until you reach the texture that you like.
Add glitters to the mixture.

Mine was about 1:2 (corn starch : hair conditioner).

This cloud dough is definitely different from regular play-dough.

It feels smoother, somewhat flowy, a little sticky and very soft.

Experiencing different textures can help children develop senses – sensory discrimination – and build vocabulary.

I made my dough white so that it looks like cloud. And adding white or iridescent glitters makes the cloud dough more magical.

I can play with this dough for an hour and I bet your child will do too.😜 But if you feel like you need some props to invite your child to start playing, you can add some shiny props like iridescent confettis and gift boxes.