Want to add a fun element to your drawings? Add texture with sand and glue. Our homeschool group had a great time pairing pastel chalk drawings with homemade colored sand. Below you’ll find a list of the supplies we used, directions for coloring the sand, and a video tutorial.

Colored Sand Supplies

  • Play sand
  • Food coloring
  • Plastic containers to mix
  • Spoons or craft sticks for mixing
  • Old tea towels or cloth with a fine weave. (I used pieces of an old sheet.)

Other Supplies

  • Cardstock or heavy paper
  • Glue
  • Paper plate
  • Paintbrush to spread glue
  • Optional – pencils, chalk pastels, markers, paint, etc. to create a drawing. (You can skip these and have fun creating designs with just the glue and sand.)

Instructions for Making Colored Sand

  • Scoop sand into plastic containers. Use one container for each color you’re creating.
  • Add water and mix with an old spoon or craft stick until the sand is evenly moist but not too wet. (If you get it really wet, it takes a lot longer to dry.)
  • Add food coloring and mix until colored evenly. The color will fade some after drying, so make your color pretty bold.
  • Spread on cloth to dry.
  • Once dry, put it back in dry containers.
I spread the sand out to dry on a piece of an old sheet.
The sand was colored with earth shades for our project.

Instructions for Creating Your Piece of Art

  • If desired, create a design or scene with your pencil, chalk pastels, markers, etc.
  • Pour some glue onto the paper plate.
  • Use your paint brush to paint glue into areas for colored sand.
  • Sprinkle sand on top of glue and then tip sideways to remove excess sand.

Note: I made the colored sand ahead of time for our group project so we wouldn’t have to wait for it to dry. If you’re doing this on your own, make it a two day project and have your children color the sand.

This project was part of a homeschool art day. Each August, I host this event in my backyard for Green Mountain Area Homeschoolers. I make instructional videos ahead of time and post them on Youtube so the students can start creating (and socializing) as soon as they arrive.

You can access instructional videos from the past four years on my homeschool art playlist on Youtube. Every year, the students complete four different projects centered around a common theme.

This year’s theme is the Classical Elements of Ancient Greece – fire, water, earth, and air. The pastel chalk drawings with homemade colored sand were used to represent earth. We are currently exhibiting our students’ work at our local library through the month of September. (Belmar Library in Lakewood, CO if you happen to live in our area.)