We can’t always get to the coast when we want a fun family day out, so let the beach come to you with this homemade sand recipe!
This homemade sand is more commonly called Moon Sand, and it gets its name because it is more similar in colour to the moon than regular beach sand. You can, of course, add a small amount of golden yellow, orange, and brown food colourings if you want to make yours more of a standard beachy colour.
This flour and oil mixture is a homemade alternative to kinetic sand. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s just as fun. Expect a crumbly texture that holds together well when you press it into shapes or use a mould.
Playing with Moon Sand can be a perfect calm sensory play activity for kids of any age. It can help develop fine motor skills, hand eye coordination, and it can be a great way to boost imagination. Kids who are learning numbers and measuring can get involved in helping to make it too!
While kinetic sand (regular sand coated in silicone oil) and sandbox sand offer a similar textural play activity, this Moon Sand is perfect for babies and younger kids who are at a stage where they are keen to put everything in their mouths. I’m not saying it’s edible, and you should always supervise to stop your little one digesting fistfuls of it, but it’s made using simple kitchen ingredients so it’s safe to play with.
Simple Ingredients
- 8 tbsp plain flour
- 1 tbsp oil (we used vegetable oil, but any cooking oil will do here)
- Small containers to make “sandcastles”
- Small plastic cookie cutters
The above quantities will make you a small batch which is great for a first try.
If you like it and want to make more, keep the same ratio of 8 x flour to 1 x oil. So to make double the amount you would need 16 tbsp plain flour and 2 tbsp oil, and so on. Oh, and it helps to use the same measuring spoon for both ingredients, just to keep things accurate.
Easy Recipe
This really couldn’t be easier:
- Cover your surface in old newspaper or tea towels to catch fallen “sand”
- Measure out your ingredients into a box or bowl
- Mix together with your fingers in a rubbing motion, similar to making crumble topping or pastry.
- The texture should be easily shapeable, while remaining crumbly. If it is too dry, add a small amount of oil. If it is too soft, add more flour.
- Play!
A shallow baking tray or a washing up bowl are great to keep your little beach contained, and if the mixture feels uneven you can rub out any oily lumps before adding more ingredients. If you want to make your own adjustments that’s fine, just add small amounts at a time so you stay in control of it., and mix thoroughly each time you add something so it mixes in properly before you reassess.
You know you’ve got it right if you can squeeze a handful gently and it holds its shape, then crumbles when you break it apart.
Ideas For Play
You can use your imagination here, but a few things my young daughter liked were:
- Making footprints with toy animals and guessing which one walked across the beach.
- Using spoons and small containers to teach full, empty, and if they are a bit older, more and less. You can count spoonfuls to improve numeracy too.
- Using cookie cutters and counting how many shapes we could make.
- Drawing roads with our fingers then creating a seaside town around them.
Toys might need a quick rinse after being used with the sand.
Shelf Life
Because it contains flour, the shelf life isn’t great for this, but making it is half of the fun. You can easily fill an hour by the time you have made the sand together and played with it. It’s great for a rainy day.
I usually get rid of mine at the end of the play session, and I wouldn’t keep it longer than a few days. The Food Standards Agency’s safety advice agrees. Best to give everything you have used a good clean afterwards too.
We loved spending time playing with the sand and remembering our last trip to the beach. You could even have some ice creams ready in the freezer for when you’re done if you want to make the mini seaside adventure even more authentic 🍦