How to make Homemade Colored Sand

Many colorful craft projects start with plain white sand.

Colored sand is a versatile medium that creative people of all ages can enjoy using. When making your own colored sand, it's easiest to use precleaned sand purchased at the craft or hardware store. If you have access to a white-sand beach and prefer to use what you find in nature, collect the cleanest sand you can find, pour it through a mesh strainer to remove any debris, spread it out in a thin layer, spray it with bleach water to sanitize and then allow the sand to air dry before using. The Food-Safe Schools website recommends a mixture of 1 tsp. bleach to 1 gallon of water for sanitizing most surfaces.

Things You'll Need

• Containers
• Sand
• Food coloring or dry tempura paint

Instructions

1. Pour clean white sand into a jar with a lid or a plastic baggie that closes securely.

2. Add 1 or 2 drops of liquid food coloring or 1 or 2 tsp. of dry tempura paint.

3. Secure the lid or closure and shake the container until the colorant is well mixed into the sand.

4. Add more colorant, a little at a time, and mix again until the sand is exactly the color you desire. Store the colored sand in airtight containers.

Tips & Warnings

• If you can't find clean white sand you can substitute table salt.

• Create sand art by filling clear glass containers with layers of different colored sand or paint with sand by spreading glue on poster board and sprinkling it with colored sand. You can also decorate pinecones, ornaments or other decorative objects with colored sand in the same way you would use glitter.

• Break up clumps in your colored sand by pouring it onto a plate and smashing the clumps with a fork.

References

• Food-Safe Schools: How to Sanitize with Bleach
• McCormick: Colored Desert
• CD Kitchen: Colored Sand Recipe