How to color play sand

How to color play sand

You just need the following materials to be able to color any play sand.

• 1 cup of clean dried sand.
• 1 teaspoon of food coloring
• Paper towels
• Tray or plate (this for drying the sand)

You have two ways to do it.

Color the sand with paint by diluting 10mls paint with 10mls water. Mix until they're combined thoroughly. Please be guided that the sand turns out wetter than food coloring and will take a little longer to dry.

Color the sand with Edicol dye by placing the sand into a container and add a teaspoon of the Edicol dye. Add a small quantity of water to dilute the dye and mix through sand thoroughly. Then, spread the sand out on a large sheet of newspaper or paper towels under the sun to dry.  For a small batch of sand, you could spread it out on an old baking tray and have it dry in the oven on low heat only.

Wait for the sand to dry when doing either of these methods. When it's dry, rub the sand in your hand to make sure it's not stuck with each other.

Your colored sand would be able to last for several years if stored correctly in an air-tight container or zip-lock bags.