It’s Beach Week
I’m so excited you’re here to see what we’ve been enjoying this week, as part of our Beach Theme. All summer long I’m featuring a different theme to keep the kids busy, and this weeks happens to be one of my favorites.
I love the beach, and the kids do too. Luckily, you don’t even have to go to the beach, to enjoy todays activity.
Let’s Make Sand Dough
Why not bring the beach to your home, especially if you can’t just pack up and get to one. Even if you can, this is a lot of fun for the kids to help make, and of course to play with.
Here’s what you Need
4 Cups of Sifted Sand
2 Cups of Cornstarch
3 Cups of Water
Wax Paper
Baking Sheet
Wooden Spoon
Old Pot
Food Coloring (Optional)
Instructions
Place a piece of wax paper over a cookie sheet and set aside. Then, mix your sand + cornstarch + water into your pot over medium heat on your stovetop. I’d recommend using an old pot that you totally don’t mind getting back in perfect shape. We ended up soaking our pot afterwards for a good day or so, before we could really use it again.
Next keep stirring with a wooden spoon. At least 5 minutes or longer. The mixture will thicken up like a cookie dough mix. Once you have it mixed through, pour your dough onto your wax paper.
Here’s what it will look like
Next knead your dough and either split up into parts, where you can add food coloring or leave as-is. Either way the kids will enjoy their easy to make sand dough.
The kids can use play-dough cutters or regular ol’ cookie cutters to make shapes, or sand castles from their sand dough. We used our play-dough set with under the sea fish shapes. I was pleasantly surprised that this recipe isn’t a very messy one on the first use, but it does soften up a bit, after the first use - so going outside wouldn’t be the worst way to play with your dough.
You can add food coloring to chunks of your sand dough. Here’s a few colors we made.
Here’s one we made using blue food coloring.
My kids loved rolling out the dough in different colors to make fun sea shapes. We used play-dough cut-outs. Regular cookie cutters would work great too.
Once you’re all done with your sand dough for the day, just store in air-tight containers and re-use the next time you want a little beach fun without leaving your house.
My kids were absolutely thrilled to use their sand dough, they were content playing and making sea shapes for over an hour - in our house that’s a miracle, and trust me, I’ll take it! I hope your kids have just as much fun!!!
Let me know how your sand dough comes out. I’d love to see pics! Stop by Instagram or Facebook and share a photo. Just click on the link below and follow along.
This looks cool. My little cousins would love this, I’d love to play with it myself, hahah. We could build sandcastles. Thanks for sharing!
Leslie recently posted…Noodle Letters & Cream Sauce
Thanks Leslie, I hope your cousins enjoy it. I love the idea of making it yourself, the kids seemed to enjoy it more. Have a great night!
Kelly says
I can’t wait to try this with my kids. My nephew is coming this summer to visit, we will try this out when he visits. Thanks for sharing, I just pinned!
I hope you guys have a chance to make it, this sand dough is easy and a lot of fun!
What a fabulous idea! Thanks so much for linking up on Cook it! Craft it! Share it!
Ang
ang recently posted…Caffeinate, Craft & Blog Giveaway
Hi Ang, the kids loved this sand dough recipe, a big hit for sure! I just love Cook It, Craft It, Share it, always a fun party that I look forward to visiting each week
Where did you get the adorable play dough cutouts at? I feel like I need them living Tampa. I’m totally going to make these the next time we go to the beach house. Thank you for the great idea!
Chastity recently posted…What Makes A Blogger Intriguing?
Hi Chastity, it’s fun to make this sand dough and use either cookie cutters you have on hand or these fun cutters I used are actually from a play-dough set. It’s a bucket set from play-dough that includes some fun sea critter shapes. Have fun making this, it’s a fun one!
HI Heather,
Just stopping over from blog hobnob link party! I have two young kids, I love crafting/DIYing, and decorating. Looking forward to following your blog and hopefully gets some great activity and craft ideas to do with my kids.
Deb
@Seeking Lavender Lane
Deb recently posted…Curb Side Treasure
Thank you Deb. I’m glad you’re here, I hope you enjoy following along. I also have 2 little ones and it’s a lot of fun to create, cook, and share fun ideas!
Did you purchase the sand at the hardware store? Want to try this! Thank you for linking up to the Bloggers Brags Pinterest Party. I have pinned your post to the Bloggers Brags Pinterest board.
Carie Spence recently posted…Asian Pear & Berry Tart
Thanks so much for stopping by Carie. I ended up buying 2 bags of sand from amazon and it cost under $5.00 using prime. It worked great! I think craft stores may carry sand also. Thanks for pinning, it’s a lot of fun to make - add food coloring makes it even cooler for the kids.
I love this! It’s perfect for summer! This post is being featured at this week’s link party! http://www.thelifeofjenniferdawn.com/2014/07/a-little-bird-told-me-link-party-99.html
Jennifer Dawn recently posted…A Little Bird Told Me Link Party #99
Thank you so much Jennifer for including my Sand Dough as a feature this week! You host a great party, I love coming to see what everyone is creating and sharing. We love our sand dough recipe, I’m thrilled you do too!
Oh I was just thinking about doing this with my kids! Yay! Thank you for posting this. Thanks for linking up last week to Friday Favorites, hope to see you this week too!
Thanks for stopping by Laura, I hope you enjoy making the sand dough. My kids loved it. It was a lot easier to make than I always imagined. Thanks for hosting Friday Favorites, I’ll be headed over to join in just a few minutes. Enjoy your weekend!
Oh, that looks like fun. We will definitely have to try this. Thank you for sharing on Sharing Saturday!
Carrie recently posted…Sewing and Family
Hi Carrie, I can’t wait to come by tomorrow for Sharing Saturday. This sand dough recipe is so easy, and it’s great fun for the kids. My son played for over an hour with his sand dough, have fun making yours
How fun! What kid doesn’t like to play with sand and dough…now they have both. Pinned. Thanks for sharing this on Merry Monday.
Erlene recently posted…What’s going on…
I agree Erlene, you get sand + dough all in one recipe. I hope you have a great weekend!!! See you at the next Merry Monday
Such a fun idea! My 6 year old LOVES playdough, so this would be fun to make with him! Thanks for sharing on Merry Monday - I hope you come back again this week (Sunday 6pm PST!). Julia
Julia@Happy House and Home recently posted…One Minute Muffins ~ Low Carb
This looks like great fun Thanks for linking up to the parenting pin it party!
Andrea recently posted…Keftede Kebabs
Thanks Andrea, glad you like the recipe. It’s easy and fun for the kids to be creative and enjoy. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a great night!
I love this tutorial! I need to make some of this for the kids that I work with. They would love it. I am always looking for ways to add new textures to sensory play! Thanks for sharing it at Party in Your PJs! You were featured at this weeks party! High Five!! I hope you party with us this week!
Bree recently posted…Party in your PJs #12
Thank you so much Bree! The Sand Dough recipe is a lot of fun for the kids. It can be messy but if you can get outdoors and enjoy it, then even better
I’m thrilled to be featured on Party in Your PJ’s, thank you for including me. Looking forward to stopping by and joining again this week!
Heather, I said a couple weeks ago I was going t come check out your site, I’m just getting to it…sorry! This looks so fun! I know my boys would love it. i’m featuring this post tomorrow on my recap of last week’s Bloggers Brags Party. Come again soon!
Rebekah recently posted…The Perfect Gluten-free, Dairy-free Chocolate Chip Cookie
Aww, thanks so much Rebekah for stopping by, and thank you so much for featuring my Sand Dough post too! I’m excited to join Bloggers Brag again this week. I hope you enjoy your week