Sensory Activities : Make your own colored sand
As though sand needed something extra to be more fun!
It’s summer time and we have started playing in, on, under and around our sandbox more now. Sand is such a fun and frugal sensory material for many sensory activities. To make it even more exciting we made colored sand using 3 different ways.
[box title=”Things we used” color=”#333333″]
- Clean sand
- Kool-Aid packets
- Powdered Tempera
- Food Color
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Method 1
For 1/2 cup of clean sand I added 1 packet of Kool-Aid. This proportion gave the resulting sand a nice color and a great smell. After adding the Kool-Aid mix the sand and the drink mix well together. Then add about 1/2 tbsp of water and start mixing to get the color nice and even. Remember that Kool-Aid stains. Although the stain is gone after a few hand washes. Once you have your scented and colored sand, lay it out on a flat tray or sheet to dry. Note: The tropical punch and ice blue raspberry flavors give the best colors.
I found that lemonade does not give you a true yellow but the scent is amazing.
Method 2
I tried coloring the sand using powdered tempera as well. This worked just as great as the drink mix method. Of course you won’t have the scent but the color is so rich and vibrant. I simply added sand and powdered tempera and thoroughly mixed them together to get an evenly colored sand.
Method 3
Add a few drops of food coloring or a small squirt ( if using gel food color) to the sand. Add 1 tbsp of water and start mixing vigorously. With a few rounds you will start getting a bright color. Drain out the excess water and lay the sand on a flat surface to dry.
I mixed all the colors in empty yogurt containers. They looked great and smelled even more amazing..
I laid out the sand (while being a wee bit wet) into our flat sensory box for further sensory exploration and play. More on that in another post.
Remember if you use your hands, kool aid stains. The best part however it you can use your stained hands to play “hand monster with your kids and make them uncontrollably giggling and squealing.
Thanks for reading. Have fun playing with sand this summer.
Check out our other sensory activities using sensory bins
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