Make Your Own Kinetic Sand (10 lbs for 50 cents!)
My daughter wanted Kinetic Sand for Christmas this year, but the prices are so high! Even moon sand is expensive, and the glow sand is even more! We found a way to make it easy and cheap.
You can make a little or a lot. Make 10 pounds for 50 cents!! Even making 50+ pounds will only cost you about $4!! You can’t beat that!
What is Kinetic Sand?
Kinetic Sand is a toy trademarked and produced by Spin Master Ltd. It looks like regular sand but is available in different colors and can be molded into any desired shape. It mimics the physical properties of wet sand. -Wikipedia
How do you make kinetic sand?
Making kinetic or moon sand is easy! You can make a little or a lot using these recipes.
We added a video showing how to make it! (scroll down) And, we also blogged another post showing how to make COLORED Kinetic Sand! Don’t miss it!
Like it? Repin it on Pinterest!
If you happen to have a sandbox (or a beach nearby!), scoop up a little sand and make up a batch of Homemade Kinetic Sand for little or no cost. The idea of FREE Kinetic Sand sounds great to me! If not, you can buy it at home improvement stores.
Kinetic Sand Recipe
Don’t miss the instructional step-by-step video here.
INGREDIENTS
- 5 cups sand (approx. 10 lbs) ~ free or nearly free, if you have it
- 1.2 cups corn starch (approx. 1 cup + 3 tablespoons)
- 1/2 teaspoon dish soap (e.g. Dawn Dishwashing Liquid)
- water (about 1 cup)
- optional: 1 teaspoon Tea Tree Oil (for antibacterial properties)
Because play sand is an outdoor thing (it’s sand, after all), you might consider adding the tea tree oil to clean it up a little. After several months, ours is still fresh and smells okay. But, we’ve heard from some people who said when making the Moon Sand 2.0 after a few weeks, it stinks. Tea Tree oil should do the trick!
DIRECTIONS
- Put sand in a container
- Add corn starch and mix thoroughly
- Mix water & dish soap, then add to sand
- Mix thoroughly and enjoy!!
Store in a covered container.
Will it get moldy?
Of course, I would caution you on using sand from the ground like this. While sand doesn’t seem like something that is “clean”, using sand from the beach will have stuff in it that might cause mold, mildew or rot.
To avoid yours getting icky, you could grab a bag at your local DIY store. Or, you can use our tips to add ingredients that will deter the ick.
Price Breakdown:
For example, 2.2 pounds of Kinetic Sand on Amazon costs about $17. At local stores near me, such as Michael’s, it’s more than that. Plus, figure that we’re making 10 lbs and 50 lbs in these recipes.
Not that you would buy 50 lbs at that rate, but 2 lbs? Come on, that’s not much sand!! 5 cups is 10 lbs, so 2 lbs is a cup? A cup of sand?? If you bought 10 lbs on Amazon (and technically you’d need 5 packages, so it would be 11 lbs), it’d run you about $85.
If you bought 50 lbs (or 50.6 lbs because you’d need 23 packages), you’d pay a whopping $391. Not exactly a bargain.
In our “Make a little…” recipe, we’re making 10 pounds – nearly 5 times as much as the package in store. If we have sand already, then it’s basically free. No sand available? You can buy a 50 pound bag for $2.47.
Or, make the small batch, and you’re using 1/5 of it – for total cost of a mere 50 cents for 10 lbs of Kinetic sand. Compare that to 10 lbs of the prepackaged at $85. $0.50 versus $85.00 – this is a no brainer.
So, you can see why I’m excited! 🙂
Don’t miss our feature on how to make this kinetic sand COLORFUL!!
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