Back to Activities Hub

mermaid sand

Multicolour Mermaid Sand | Staycation Craft

The summer holidays might be a little different this year, but there’s still plenty of fun to be had on staycation!

Why not bring the beach to your back garden or balcony with this super simple mermaid colours sand craft? We made ours in magical mermaid colours but you can use any colour combination to suit the interests and preferences of your child.

This craft is taste safe (though we don’t recommend eating it!) and easy enough for little ones to get involved in making it. When mixing the ingredients together ask your child to note how different ingredients give the sand a different texture and encourage them to touch and feel to determine when the sand is the right consistency.

Store your sand in an airtight container and keep refrigerated if you would like to play with it another day. Now, let’s mer-make it! (Sea what we did there…)

If your little one is interested in finding out more about the mysterious underwater world and the creatures who lives there, we recommend you to look up our page about 15 fascinating octopus facts.

Let’s Make the beautiful mermaid colour sand

Luckily all you need to get started with this fun summer activity will most likely already sit waiting in your cupboard. Time to release some creativity with kitchen ingredients.

You Will Need

How To Do the coloured sand:

1 Mix equal parts cornflour, baking soda and oil in a bowl, plus half a teaspoon of water mixed with a few drops of blue food colouring. Thoroughly mix together until you have a soft, fine grain consistency. You may want to experiment a little, adding more oil will make a firmer, slightly sticky sand, whilst adding more cornflour will give you a silky-soft texture that’s perfect for finger tracing!

mix the blue sand

2 Repeat this process with pink food colouring.

mix the pink sand

3 Repeat this process with pink and blue food colouring to make a lilac/purple shade.

mix the purple sand

4 Tip the different coloured sands into a large tray. Add shells, forks and cups to the tray to help you play with the sand.

tip the sand into a tray

5 Time to play! Have fun running the sand between your fingers and tracing shapes. You could make a starfish…

a sandy starfish

6 Or use a fork to make swirling waves….

make waves

7 You could even trace a mermaid…

trace a mermaid

8 Or build a little sandcastle! Just fill a cup with layers of sand and quickly flip it over onto the tray. Tap the bottom of the cup and lift it up, you’ll have a mini castle fit for a mini merperson!

make a sandcastle

Don’t forget to share your mer-mazing masterpieces with us on social media! We’d love to see how you’re spending the summer!

Not tried toucanBox yet?

Want craft projects, with all the materials you'll need, delivered straight to your door? Sign up today and save 50% on your first box! Not ready to commit? Subscribe to our fun-filled weekly newsletter, jam packed with craft ideas, recipes, fun activities and more!

SHARE YOUR CREATIONS WITH US

We’d love to see your creations, so why not share them on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #toucanBox. Our favourite snaps could feature in the next issue of toucanBox Magazine!

Back to Activities Hub
toucan

All the materials you need to Explore, laugh, create and play.

toucanBox is a subscription service delivering fun filled activity boxes to your door.

Find out more