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Are you looking for a fun sensory activity to keep your kids busy? This DIY moon sand uses only 2 ingredients for hours of fun!
I bet you’re here looking for my moon sand recipe so you can keep your kids busy. Am I right? Awesome! You’re going to love it!
I know I’m always looking for ways to keep my girls busy – especially over school breaks! In my ongoing attempts to keep the girls busy over the summer, we came across a tutorial showing how to make what we have dubbed “Moon Sand” from just 2 simple ingredients most households have on hand.
Last year, the girls had an entire sand table full of new sand. Throughout the year however, that sand got distributed around the yard. They love playing with sand though, so I thought this would be a fun alternative, and a cool project to do together.
If you don’t want to make it, you can also buy kinetic sand and skip to the fun 🙂
We did have to go to the Dollar Tree to pick up some baby oil, but we have a stockpile of flour that needs to be used up from our food storage, so it was a really inexpensive project for us.
I’m not sure if this would work with other oils, but if you give it a try with a different type of oil, let me know how it turns out and I’ll add your feedback to the recipe.
The best part is that this moon sand is supposed to keep for a long time as long as you keep it in a sealed container. Right now we have it in a gallon ziploc bag, and it seems to be doing fine.
Just be sure to keep in mind that the Moon Sand is much messier than real sand. The girls play with it outside, and they always have to change their clothes afterwards. That’s a fun part of childhood though, right?
Ready to learn how to make your own moon sand? Or buy Kinetic Sand if you’d rather not make it yourself!
Supplies
- 8 cups all-purpose flour (not gluten free)
- 1 cup baby oil - or another oil that you’d prefer
Tools
- Mixing bowl
- Dough blender
Instructions
- Put all ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
- Using a dough blender, combine the baby oil and flour well. It took me a good 10 minutes to get everything completely incorporated.
- Put it in a large container outside, and let your children play freely with it.
- You can put measuring cups, spoons, straws and other items into the bin for an even more sensory experience.
how much does this recipe make? Looking to make some in my classroom of 21 students to each have about a sandwich size bag full.
You’ll get about 8 cups of the moon sand with the recipe as written. To figure out how much to make, start by deciding how many cups of moon sand you want each student to have. Then multiply that by the numbers of students you have to figure out how many cups you need to make.
How long can I keep this for?
As long as you keep it clean and in a container with a lid, it should last quite a while since it’s oil based and not water based.
I used coconut oil it came perfectly. Thanks for the recipe.
Coconut oil is great in moon sand! Thank you for sharing!
I have also added a few drops of tea tree oil for the nice scent and to make it festive for parties/events, a dash of edible glitter.
Those sounds like some great additions to your moon sand!
Can this be done with a hand mixer?
I haven’t tried a hand mixer for making moon sand. I’m not sure if the flour and oil would mix evenly or not. If you give it a try, let me know how it works for you.
Why can’t I use gluten free flour for the Moon Sand??
Thanks.
You can definitely try making moon sand with gluten free flour. The ratios will be different since wheat flour absorbs oil differently than gluten free flour, and every gluten free flour blend is made with different ingredients.
My kids LOVE this, it doesn’t taste very good though?
I hope you used cooking oil and not baby oil. 😉
Do you think that baby oil gel would work just as well as baby oil?
I haven’t tried making moon sand with a gel. You can use any kitchen oil if you don’t have baby oil.
Hi
I work in a kids room at the ymca I cant take a dough mixer in the room, would i be able to mix it by hand?
Yes, you can absolutely mix it by hand. It’s just a bit messier. 🙂
Hi! Can I add food coloring to this?
Yes, Laura, you can color the Moon Sand with food coloring.