Homemade Natural Moon Sand Recipe
Moon sand, or sensory table sand, is a manipulative akin to play dough, but made from sand. When you pick it up and squish it, moon sand keeps its shape. You can easily make your own with these instructions!
Equipment
- Bowls & Spoons
- Measuring Cups & Spoons
Ingredients
- 1/4 C Tbsp. Water
- 8 Tbsp. Corn Starch
- 1 1/4 C Sand*
- 1 tsp oxide powder for color optional
- 1 Tbsp. light oil like avocado for "dispersed teaspoon" of color optional
Instructions
- Put the water and the corn starch into a medium sized bowl and mix thoroughly. Let sit.
- If you're using a natural pigment like oxide, place oil into a ramekin and add the oxide powder. Mix well. In DIY cosmetic and soap recipes, this is called a "dispersed teaspoon". In these photos, I've used iron oxide powder (red) and chromium oxide (green). See notes below for information on staining and washing up.
- Add the pigment to the corn starch mixture.
- Add the sand. Mix well until completely blended.
- If the mixture is too wet, continue to add corn starch by tablespoons until dry enough to stick together when squeezed in your hand. If the mixture is too dry, add a teaspoon of water until the moon sand is wet enough to hold together.
Notes
Store in the refrigerator for longer life. If you've used commercial play sand, this should keep pretty much indefinitely.
If you've used naturally harvested sand, you might notice some mold or off smell after some time. This comes from the microscopic amounts of organic material still left in the sand after washing it.
The heat from the oven should help kill that off, but you never know.