Sand Prints

We colored our own sand and made sand prints!

The first thing we did was collect some sand and color it

We just used was plain old play sand.

(We've also colored beach sand before)

To color it, we separated it into bowls

poured water in until it was level with the top of the sand

then stirred in food coloring

(the more color you use the darker the sand will be)

We let the sand sit in the color for about an hour

then dumped it out onto tin foil, spread it out and let the sand dry over night

Once we had dry sand we started our prints

I set out paper, glue in bowls, paint brushes, trays, and the sand

The first thing to do is create a sandy design in the tray

Then, 

paint a picture with the glue on a piece of paper

Place the paper onto the sand (glue side down),

 run your hand over the back, and pull it up

Voila!

The neat thing about this technique is you can use the sand over and over again

without having to sprinkling the sand over the glue!

You can tweak the sand design before each print

adding more color or moving around the colors already on the tray

 My girls really loved doing this activity

They loved playing with the sand in their trays and getting their designs just right

they loved painting on the paper with the glue

and

 they especially loved seeing their pictures come to life after lifting them from the sand

We also tried a different way of making prints,

by drawing in the sand with our fingers and then pulling up a negative print.

You have to press very gently if you try this way though,

the sand will fill in the drawing and you'll have a big blob instead of a picture

 We made so many prints,

it was so much fun!!

 When we were done making our prints we filled a jar up with our extra sand

Two art activities in one!

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The Play Academy