Sand Sculptures

As the children of bloggers, our wee ones have sometimes suffered through and other times benefited from their position. They tend to think like bloggers, and will often rate activities and projects as “blog worthy” or “definitely NOT blog worthy”. Our family has marveled at how photogenic they are. Actually, since they’ve been incessantly photographed since birth, they’ve learned to either ignore the camera completely or act extremely natural while being posed, knowing that the sooner they cooperate, the sooner they can get on with their lives. They’ve had to “try on” things, taste things, and in general, be our human guinea pigs! So, when they were making their sand sculptures, and Pixie said, “Now this is a project worth doing!” you’ve got to know that is high praise indeed!

The wee ones made their sand sculptures as part as their States Study Unit. Of course, at some point in our lives, we’ve all made sand sculptures, whether it was in class, at scouts or ‘getting crafty” at summer camp. This is an easy project. Although we bought our sand colored, you can also color your own sand by adding dried tempra paint to the sand, or as a substitute, you can add food coloring to table or sea salt. Make sure it dries completely before you begin.

To make our sand sculptures you will need:

a glass jar (garage sales are great places to get them cheap)

several colors of sand

spoon

pokey stick… can use skewers, knitting needles, etc.

Start with one color and spoon into the bottom of the jar. To make for an interesting “landscape” tilt the jar.

Continue adding layers of color, tipping the jar in different directions. TIP: The most important thing is to hold the jar steady. If you bump the jar, your colors can get mixed and lose the distinct lines.

Continue adding more layers of sand until you are 1/2 – 1″ from the top.

NOTE: If you’d like this to be a candle, add a votive or tea light in your jar so the top of the candle is 1/2 – 1 inch below the top. Continue adding sand around the candle until you are 1/2 – 1″ from the top.

If you want, you can slide your pokey object between the glass and the sand along the outer edges. This will cause the sand from higher layers to seep down into lower layers, creating interesting designs.