As a parent, or a teacher, trying to cut down on the cost of buying nice things for your kids can be surprisingly tough work. If you want to try and keep buying things like sand, the price can become quite the deterrent. To help you avoid that sense of feeling, though, we highly recommend that you come and take a look at making DIY sand. Specifically, we will be making what is known as kinetic sand.
How, then, do you go about making this product come to life?
Buying the essentials
To make kinetic sand for the kids, you are going to need the usual items: measuring spoons and measuring cups; mixing bowls; washing up liquid; corn starch; food colouring; and some fine, dry white sand.
You could also use general play sand, but for the best results we recommend that you start with the above kind of sand. Lastly, grab a single cup of water and we should be good to go.
Getting started
To begin with, you are going to need to pour the sand into a mixing bowl. Put in as much sand as you like. Now, ensure your sand is 100% dry – not moist, dry – and then pack in the corn starch that we mentioned above. Around two tablespoons of corn starch should be enough to get the party started.
Blend the sand and corn starch together, and use your measuring spoon to ensure the blends are absolutely mixed together properly.
In another mixing bowl, you are going to need to get a teaspoon of your washing up liquid and mix that in with the cup of water. Wait until the bubbles begin to rise to the surface. Please note that you need to use some form of washing up liquid that contains a polymer.
Moving forward
Now, you will want to add in some food colouring to the soap water mixture. Make this any colour you wish – it really is your choice. Add around 5 to 6 drops of food colour into the soap water solution. Once you do this, you need to take that solution and then add in the colouring solution to the sand and corn starch mixture. Do this slowly, and ensure that you retain a thick, tough consistency.
Blend them together and keep stirring until you get the perfect mixture. If it’s too gloopy, add some more water. Now, you should be able to get the sand ready for usage. Once it reaches the kind of feel you are looking for, you can get the shovels and spades out and let the kids have all of the fun they wish.
Wrapping up
When the kids are done playing with their comical new sand product, you should look to add it into an airtight container. This avoids the sand from losing that consistency and its texture. If the sand dries out, all it takes is some added soap water mixture again to revive it. Happy creating!