Edible Sand Recipe for summer
Easy homemade play sand made using pantry ingredients. Ah! summer is here and the children love playing in the sand. Couple of years ago they had a ball making an island in our sandbox ( time to do that again!) They also loved making beach creatures. This season, we want to kick off summer fun with this simple “edible sand” recipe using basic pantry ingredients. 
You can keep this scented play sand as loose dry sand which is great for scooping and pouring or with a bit of extra water you can keep them moldable as real damp beach sand. 
The scent and the colors turn out gorgeous. 
and honestly the preparation is so simple. 
This below is NOT a carefully created sand art. The children were absolutely mesmerized playing with the sand that they strictly said ” no camera when we are playing” hahahah. So I respected their wishes ( commands?) and waited until they were done. But right in the middle of their play time I hear ” mom, come over here! You have to take a picture! This cupcake we made is gorgeous” Of course it is.. They did a lot of scooping and pourning and realized that they created a wonderful piece of sand art during their play time. 
They were multiple cakes and rainbow cupcakes. 
and lava cakes. ( I mean real, red hot lava cakes.) 
Their chance creation of sand art led them to create a more intentional sand art in a cup. 
Now on to the simple recipe for edible sand. Materials
Place 1/2 cup of cornmeal in a container. Add 2 envelopes of Kool-Aid (unsweetened drink mix) for every 1/2 cup for the best color and scent. Add about 1/4 tbsp of water. Water is added for the drink mix to give out its vibrant color and scent. Mix thoroughly with hands or a spoon until the color spreads evenly. If you want a more moldable sand, add more water.. Place them in separate containers and place the lot in a big shallow plastic tub. The children can enjoy the colors first and then we all know what happens! They enjoy the mixing process even more. Cornmeal in itself is a fantastic sensory material. We first used it in our alphabet sensory bin. Then in our desert sensory bin and in our fall activities for math post. Note: remember the cornmeal is yellow and the color you add with mix in and give you a secondary color. The green sand you see is actually cornmeal and blue Kool-Aid.
Thanks for reading
We went ahead and tried making a dough with the play sand and it turned out so good.
How to make sand dough
Check out our resourceful e-book filled with many preschool play ideas.
We have also collaborated on another e-book with simple and practical baby play ideas.
How did you make the black sand?
I used grape Kool-Aid.. It’s dark purple rather than black.
Thanks I should have guessed! 🙂
If you get every where does the Kool-Aid color wash off on your hands
Kool-Aid does stain a bit. But it washes off with some soap and water.
Yet again; thank you for sharing your great ideas. Appreciate these hints and tips.
Your very welcome. Glad that you are enjoying the activities
Love this idea!!!!! Does it stain the hands?
A little bit because of the Kool-Aid. But the person making the sand will have stained hands which will go with some warm water and soap scrubbing. But the children will be fine without any stained hands since the color would have settled in with the cornmeal. The children also would probably use tools like shovels and scoops. The person making the “sand” can easily avoid the stain by using forks or spoons to mix the color in.
I am highly sensitive to smell. I know that the smell from the Kool aid would drive me bonkers 😉 any suggestions for coloring without scent?
Probably food color mixed with a bit of water will do the trick. Even liquid watercolors will work.
Love it! The colors are so pretty too!
Thanks Ana./
That looks like great fun! What would you suggest the equivalent to Kool Aid and cornmeal is in Australia?
Cornmeal is used to make polenta, so it may be called something different. Kool aid is a powdered drink mix, like a cordial powder (kinda) hope that helps!
Thanks for helping out Jennifer