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Make Your Own Moon Sand – Aka Moldable Mess!

11 March 2010 8 Comments

Combine play sand with cornstarch and you get lots of sand fun! What is great about this mixture is that unlike regular sand, it cakes together when slightly damp. Almost becoming hard, but smashes back into sand. All of my kids enjoyed playing with there new “outdoor only” tub! I will warn you though, they were covered in sand when they were done! The “clumping qualities” exist on clothing too – haha. This was messier than regular sand, it didn’t just brush off until it was bone dry (aka when the kids were done and in the house). This was definitely one of our more messy learning activities!

What will you need to make your own Moon Sand?

Play Sand, Cornstarch, Salt and Water. We also used a Tupperware tub and a sifter to sift our sand as our play sand was rocky. Want to make your sand even more fun? Add glitter or food coloring to brighten up their play!

How to mix your own “moldable sand”?

You’ll want to sift the sand if it has little pebbles in it. You want the sand to be as fine as possible. We added salt (an entire container)to help preserve the mix. I know that cornstarch can spoil. We made this three days ago I’ll let you know how long it lasts before spoilage. Hopefully, a very long time! After we mixed the sand and the salt we added our boxes of cornstarch. You want the cornstarch to be roughly 1/4th of the mixture. We used two boxes so we could have a few inches of moon sand to play with. Next add water. Mix and enjoy making balls and shapes and of course smashing them! My son loved building walls for his cars to ram into!

8 Comments »

Scarlet said:

Looks like fun! We’ll have to try this!

# 11 March 2010 at 3:32 pm

Lula Lola said:

This looks like lots of fun. The kids love that Moon Sand. How much water did it take?
Lula Lola´s last blog ..Butt, Stupid, Shut Up, Fart, Dummy, Hate

# 11 March 2010 at 8:13 pm

admin said:

I really wasn’t paying attention but probably 4-5 cups. I added a “puddle” and the kids mixed it in, added another “puddle” and kept going till it was all barely damp. We had to add more water the next day to “reactivate” it – but only a cup or two the second time. Sorry. I should have measured the water ahead.

# 11 March 2010 at 8:41 pm

Jonna said:

This looks great, we should give it a try this summer! Thanks for sharing.

# 13 March 2010 at 1:25 am

pamela said:

This looks awesome! And its way less expensive than moon sand! thanks! Cant wait to try this out in the summer!
pamela´s last blog ..For my Birthday…

# 17 March 2010 at 11:48 pm

Heather said:

LOL at “moldable mess”! Not sure if I will try this since our daughter hasn’t proven very responsible with the Moon Sand she had (read “I’m still trying to get the glitter from it out of my carpet months later”) but this is a great idea!
Heather´s last blog ..Release

# 21 March 2010 at 7:17 am