How To Make Sensory Play Sand

DIY & Budget Friendly Sensory Sand 

This Sensory Play Sand inspired by Pinterest is DIY, Budget Friendly, Customizable and Lot’s of FUN!

This sensory activity requires very few ingredients and it lasts a little while before you need to throw it out if kept in containers or covered up in a large tub.

Unlike slime, it won’t stick to your child’s clothing or get stuck in the carpet.

Also known as Sensory Dough or Cloud Doh, this activity is safe for toddlers to play with under supervision. I have seen kids up to 12 years old enjoying having a play with this recipe, especially during group activities.

For 3 Kids You Will Need:

• 1x LARGE Mixing Container
• 8 x Heaped Cups Of Flour
• 1 Cup Of Baby Oil (Less For Vegetable Oil or Coconut Oil)
• Optional Food Colouring (Oil Based works better, however, more expensive)

Note: The two minimum ingredients are oil + flour

Step 1: Pour the flour into a mixing bowl and add your baby oil. Distribute until even and the flour feels soft and silky but crumbly at the same time. You should be able to press the sand together firmly and it will hold momentarily.

Step 2: To give the sand some colour add drops of food colouring to the baby oil. Mix the baby oil up a little before pouring it in. The colour will give the flour a speckled effect unless effort is taken to distribute evenly.

You can experiment with different things such as glitter if you are confident your child won’t mouth/ingest the mixture.  You now have Sensory Play Sand with no sand in it!

The purpose of most of the activities I publish are to document things that you already have in the home.

Some things that you may not be utilising and are just sitting in the cupboard or are very inexpensive to pick up at the grocery store (2Kg Flour $1.50 AU for Eg). It’s great for Sensory Play On A budget.

What Activities Can Be Done With Sensory Sand?

1. Roleplay Cooking
2. Experimenting with Colours
3. A Sand Dune Track with Play Cars & Figurines 
4. Drawing numbers and pictures in the sand 
5. Hide and Seek with objects 
6. Building Castles and Villages with Square and round molds
7. Relaxation and Calming activities.