We recently read a little about Navajo sand painting in a book from the library – such amazing and intricate art. We had a stash of colored sand waiting for a project, so we decided to try our hand at some simple colored sand art.
Materials:
- cardboard base (something from the recycle bin)
- white glue
- colored sand
We used the colored craft sand from Discount School Supply, which we had left-over from making layered sand jars at a birthday party. If you don’t want to invest in colored sand, try the tutorial for colored salt at flax & twine.
We started by planning our drawings on a dry erase board, then copying it onto our cardboard base. I taped the edges of the cardboard so we would have a white frame on the finished art. The younger the child, the simpler the design should be.
Decide on a color of sand to start with and use a paint brush to apply glue to all the parts of the drawing that will be your first color.
Apply a generous amount of sand to the glued areas, then dump off the extra into a container or trash can. We used a dish tub, and saved the multicolored extra sand for other projects.
Continue applying glue and colors one at a time, dumping off the extra sand each time. If you are covering a large area, do it in sections so your glue doesn’t dry.
We used a spoon for the larger areas, but the girls liked the bottle method for smaller details.
Here are the finished projects – not too bad for our first try at sand art. The girls loved this project (and we still have oodles of sand), so I think we’ll be playing with colored sand art again very soon!
Have you tried any new art techniques or materials lately? What’s the go-to crafting supply in your house right now?
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