Rainbow Glow Moon Dough

When we created our new Moon Dough recipe that was so silky and fun to play with, plus incredibly fast and easy to make, I never imagined how much we would love it! The kids keep asking for new batches to be made and of course they want something new and different. So this week we made a Glow in the Dark Moon Dough that has incredible glow power!

Glow in the Dark Moon Dough

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What is Moon Dough?

Although I had heard of moon dough I never really thought of making it before. It just didn’t seem interesting enough for my kids. But one rainy day we thought we would give it a try. It was fun, but immediately our brains started racing with ways we could use science and our previous experiments to make our Moon Dough even better.

The result was this incredible, silky, vibrantly coloured Moon Dough that is simply luxurious to play with and explore.

After our success creating our own Moon Dough recipe, it wasn’t long before the kids were coming up with ideas for new things we could do with our Moon Dough.

First up, making Glow Moon Dough in a rainbow of colours!

Glow Power Kids Activities

Glow in the dark projects are so much fun! There is something incredibly exciting for kids when the lights go down and items start glowing. It is always met with so much enthusiasm.

In the past we have done many glow in the dark activities including Glow Bath Bombs, Glow Salt Circuits, Glow Oobleck and even made our own Glow in the Dark Bio-Plastic Toys. The list is never ending and the kids love coming up with new ideas for how we can take regular activities and turn them into a cool glow version.

Which is how we came up with this Glow Moon Dough. After such amazing success creating our new Moon Dough recipe a few weeks ago, the kids have been excited to do it again. But this time adding Glow Power!

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RAINBOW GLOW MOON DOUGH VIDEO

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How to Make Glow in the Dark Moon Dough

First, this is not a taste safe recipe. Although we do have ways of making a taste safe moon dough, this one is not taste safe. Only use it with children old enough to follow the rules and not place this in their mouth.

Supplies per Colour

We ended up making our Glow in the Dark Moon Dough in a variety of colours, creating a rainbow of glow. These portions are what we used for each colour.

1/4 cup Potato Starch
1/4 cup Flour
1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil 
Polysorbate 80
Photoluminescent pigment in at least one colour
Large bowl
Microwave safe cup
Spoon
Measuring Cups

 

NOTE: We used glitter in our Glow Moon Dough but when glowing it appears as little black dots. You can see them in the pictures. Although you can definitely use glitter if you want, I think going glitter free is actually a better option with this recipe.

How to Make Moon Dough that Glows

Add the potato starch and flour to a bowl and mix.

In a microwave safe cup melt the coconut oil. This should take about 20 seconds. Don’t let it boil.

Add one teaspoon of the photoluminscent pigment (we went heaping to increase glow power!), to the coconut oil. Notice how even if you stir the pigment does not blend with the water.

Add a few drops of Polysorbate 80 to the pigment and coconut oil. This is an emulsifier which makes water and oils mix. In our case this means our pigment will mix with our oil. Stir and watch how it all suddenly magically combines!

Add the coloured oil to the flour and starch mix. Blend together with your hands until fully combined. Now you are ready to play!

Repeat the process for each colour of glow moon dough you are making. We used white, yellow, orange, pink, green and blue for our glowing rainbow colours.

Check out this video showing the magic of emulsifiers

Playing with Glow Moon Dough

I recommend playing with the moon dough under bright lights or near a window letting in lots of light. This will help the pigment charge. Another option is to spread it out on a plate in the bright light.

When you are ready to glow, head into a dark room or turn off the lights.

GLOW!

Ours glowed for a really, really long time and was quite bright. If you need to recharge your moon dough, simply bring it back into bright light. Another option is to use a black light to help up the glow factor. However ours was so bright we never felt the need to use a black light. Even when I was taking pictures. It was so incredible!

I kept ours for about a week with no issues at all. It was great fun to pull out and play. Simply make sure you wash your hands completely before starting to play to avoid contamination. Then store in an airtight container between play sessions.

Have fun playing!

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