Making sand art bottles is arguably one of the most underrated activities to do with your kids. Depending on where you source the sand, sand art bottles can be virtually or entirely cost-free, making for a budget-friendly activity that is fun to complete.
Plus, you get a pretty work of art at the end! But have you ever wondered how to make sand art bottles? Then look no further!
The best part about sand art bottles is that the materials involved are very easy to access. A lot of people will make sand art bottles on vacation or a trip to the beach to keep some of the sand with them when they get home, which is completely free. Others might buy sand to make sand art bottles at home.
Whether you’re wanting your kids to make a memorable keepsake or if you want to encourage them to get creative, here is our guide on how to make sand art bottles!
How To Make Sand Art Bottles
You will need:
- Plastic bottles or jars that are empty and clean
- Sand
- Food coloring of your chosen colors
- Jars or Tupperware to hold the excess sand
- Trays, plates, or bowls
- Funnels
- Spoons
- Ziploc bags
Optional:
- Decorative shells
- Paint or spray paint
- Hot glue gun
Step 1: Acquire The Sand
To make your sand art bottles you will firstly need sand! There are two ways to get sand: either buy a bag of sand or take some from the beach. Even if you’re not planning on making sand art bottles, it’s a good idea to bring a bag or Tupperware box to the beach to collect sand if you feel inspired when you’re there.
This is also a nice way to bring the beach back home with you, especially if you’ve just come back from vacation!
If you’re buying sand from a local store or online, make sure the sand is free from any chemicals and suitable to be played in. Some parents prefer to buy organic sand rather than take sand from the beach, because you never know what the beach sand is tainted with.
You might accidentally bring home shards of glass, cigarette buts, trash, or dirt.
We recommend finding the finest and lightest sand possible. Fine grains of white sand are the easiest to dye into various colors!
Step 2: Separate The Sand
Now, separate the sand into as many ziplock baggies as you want. Each bag of sand will eventually be for a specific color, so separating the sand helps give you an idea of how many colors you can make for your sand art bottles.
Step 3: Dye The Sand
Pour a couple drops of food coloring into a bag of sand and mix it around until you find the perfect color. You might need to experiment with this by adding droplets of water, or you can use liquid watercolor paint.
Shake the bag and use a spoon to mix it all together, making sure everything is evenly mixed and colored.
Complete this process for every color and every bag for your sand art bottles.
Step 4: Dry The Sand
After dying, the sand is going to be quite wet and will need time to dry. If you don’t allow the sand to dry properly, it will fall into the bottles in untidy clumps, rendering the colorful design useless. You also want the dye to properly dry so it doesn’t get everywhere, such as all over the kitchen table or on your kid’s hands!
To do this, pour each colored sand out of the ziplock baggies and into separate trays, plates, or bowls, and place them outside to dry in the sun. It’s best to make sure the sand is evenly spread out on a wide surface (which is why trays and plates work best) to ensure that all the sand is evenly dried.
It’s important to check the sand regularly and give it a stir to make sure that no clumps are forming. If clumps do form, you can break them or shake them through a sieve to break the grains apart.
Once the sand has completely dried, put each color into a respective Tupperware container, and bring them inside for the next stage in how to make your sand art bottles.
Step 5: Prepare The Area
No matter what you do, making sand art bottles is going to leave sand virtually everywhere. We recommend laying newspaper on the table to make it easier to clean.
Place a bottle or jar around the table for every child, along with the containers of sand, funnels, spoons, and other materials.
Step 6: How To Make The Sand Art Bottles
Now’s the fun part in how to make sand art bottles! Explain to the kids how to scoop up sand with a spoon and pour it into the funnel over the bottle or jar. The more sand they put through the funnel, the thicker the color will look in the bottle.
Your kids can get creative with this step, because they can add as many colors as they like using the same step.
It might be handy doing a sample bottle to show your kids how to do it properly. The one downside to sand bottles is that you can’t take the sand away and start again, because the colors will mingle together.
Take this time to teach them to be patient and think about what colors they want next.
Here’s the important part: Make sure the sand is filled right to the top of the bottle and flattened with a spoon. This is because you want as little air between the sand and the lid as possible to prevent the colors from mixing.
You also don’t want your kids to shake the bottles, as this will also mix the colors.
Step 7: Place The Lid
When your creation is finished,and you have a beautiful sand art bottle, put a lid tightly on the bottle. However, the creativity doesn’t have to stop there.
If you want to make the bottle look as attractive as the sand, stick some decorative materials to the bottle lid such as shells, letters, or gems with a hot glue gun.
You can even paint or spray paint parts of the bottle! It’s fun to allow kids to paint their names on the bottles as a memorable keepsake.
Conclusion
So, there you have it! Sand art bottles are fun to make, easy to source, and they look very pretty. Hopefully this guide will show you how to make sand art bottles and help you and your little ones make your own sand art designs to treasure for years to come.
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