“to your home — or the perfect gift for a friend!none
Kids love to play with sand, and with these fun sand crafts for kids, it’s always a day at the beach! Rain or shine, it only takes a few supplies and a bit of imagination to turn ordinary grains of sand into a treasured work of art.
Ask your kids to shovel up a bucket of sand during your next trip to the shore, or pick up a bag of play sand at your neighborhood hardware store. You’ll be amazed at the really beautiful effects you and your kids can create when you work together.
Sand crafts make great gifts or fun take-home souvenirs after a trip to the coast. Best of all, these sand projects won’t ever get washed away by an unexpected wave!
Follow the links below to learn how you and your kids can use sand to make fantastic art crafts:
Sand Casting
Create a one-of-a-kind sculpture with simple sand and plaster of Paris.
Sand Jars
Put the sunny colors of the beach on display with a jarred sand picture.
Keep reading to learn how your kids can become master sculptors through sand casting.
For more fun art crafts and kids crafts, check out:
- Sculpture Crafts
- Wood Crafts
- Art Crafts for Kids
Sand Casting
Sand casting takes takes a little time and patience, but it’ll be well worth the effort when you and your kids create beautiful art craft sculptures to enjoy forever.
What You’ll Need:
- Newspaper
- Pie pan
- Brown or white sand
- Vegetable oil
- Ruler
- Tools such as a small spoon, knife, and toothpicks (to make impressions in sand)
- Plaster of Paris
- Paper clips
How to Make a Sand Casting:
Step 1: Cover your work surface with newspaper. Fill the pie pan about half full with sand. Add oil until the sand sticks together.
Step 2: Pat the sand base down to about 1 inch thick in the pie pan. Build up a 1/2 to 3/4-inch rim around the edges.
Step 3: Use a small spoon or knife to press in a design, dig holes, or build ridges in the sand. Use a toothpick to create finer lines or letters.
If you are making projections such as legs or stems, place straightened paper clips in the sand to strengthen your plaster casting.
Step 4: An adult should help kids mix the plaster of Paris, following package directions. Carefully spoon the plaster into the sand mold. If you’d like to hang your plaster casting, press a paper clip into the top edge.
Step 5: Let the plaster set overnight. When it’s dry, remove your cast from the sand and brush off excess sand.
What happens when your kids mix sand with powdered poster paint? See sand art in a jar in the next section.
For more fun art crafts and kids crafts, check out:
- Sculpture Crafts
- Wood Crafts
- Art Crafts for Kids
Sand Jars
“Completed Sand Jarsnone
This sand jar project lets your kids turn ordinary sand into colorful artwork. If you think sand should stay at the beach, think again!
What You’ll Need:
- Newspaper
- Sand
- Small dishes
- Powdered poster paints
- Clean glass jar with lid
- Acrylic paints
- Paintbrush
How to Make Sand Jars:
Step 1: Cover your work surface with newspaper. Mix small amounts of sand with different colors of powdered poster paints in small dishes.
Step 2: Carefully pour one color at a time into a glass jar. Tilt the jar and add about 1/2 inch of one color of sand. Tilt the glass the other way and add another 1/2 inch of sand using a different color. Keep tilting the glass and alternating colors until the jar is full.
Step 3: Decorate the lid of the jar with acrylic paints. When the paint is dry, place the lid on the jar. Be careful not to shake your sand picture.
For more fun art crafts and kids’ crafts, check out:
- Sculpture Crafts
- Wood Crafts
- Art Crafts for Kids
