Move over, slime.
The past two years saw every child between the ages of five and fifteen become nothing short of obsessed with making their own slime – and mothers across the world pulled their hair out over gross, sticky gloop covering every surface in her home.
If you too are feeling (more than) a little over slime at this stage, how about getting your kids involved in making this homemade unicorn kinetic sand instead?
Kinetic sand is all sorts great, and kids of all ages will no doubt love squishing it, shaping it, and playing with it. As well as this, kinetic sand is also a great sensory tool and perfect for childern with any kind of attention issues.
This recipe could not be easier to make – ensuring hours of play time (and a bit of peace, hopefully, for you, mamas!)
DIY Unicorn Kinetic Sand
Ingredients
- Very fine, while sand (you’ll get this in Smyths or possibly also garden centres
- Corn starch
- Washing up liquid (this improves the texture and helps the sand smell great)
- Water
- Food colouring (in bright, fun colors (any food coloring will work for this, but neon is most unicorn-y)
- Fine glitter (buying multiple colors will allow you to match the color to the specific color of kinetic sand you’re making)
- Essential oils, optional, for fragrance and anti-microbial properties, depending on the oil you use.
Instructions
Making the unicorn kinetic sand is oh-so-easy. You’ll need a large bowl for your dry mixture and a smaller bowl or jar for your wet mixture. For the dry mixture, you’ll want to mix 1 cup of sand, 1 tablespoon of corn starch, and 1 tablespoon of glitter.
For the wet mixture, you’ll need to mix roughly 1 tablespoon of water, 1 teaspoon of dish soap, and some food coloring (we found around 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon was enough for a good color payoff). Mix this gently– you don’t want too many bubbles to form during the mixing process.
Then pour the wet mixture into to the dry mixture, then knead until you have a beachy wet sand consistency. You want it to feel about the consistency of sand you’d build a sand castle with. If it isn’t quite there, add water 1 teaspoon at a time.
Once it’s mixed thoroughly, repeat the process with as many colors as you’d like to make. Keep them separate, or store them together for a rainbow look.
(Recipe, idea and image via Mama plus One)
