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Taste-Safe Sand Dough

Jul 6, 201422,701 views
Play Doh
Sensory Activities For Kids : Edible Sand Dough Recipe Save
sand dough with edible ingredients Save
colorful sand dough Save
kids playing with sand dough Save
sand dough for kids recipe Save
play recipe for sand dough Save

by TurkeyMom in Play Doh

Ages2–5 yrs
Prep20 min
Activity30 min
Leveleasy
MessMedium
Works for1:1 · Small group · Class

Mix flour, cornmeal, salt, oil, cream of tartar and Kool-Aid with boiling water to make a gritty, scented sand dough for little hands. Make one small ball per color, then press, cut and stack it into rainbow sand cakes.

⚠️ Safety first

  • Adult handles the boiling water and does the mixing. Let the dough cool and check it isn't hot before handing it to kids.
  • Taste-safe, not a snack: the ingredients come from the kitchen, so an accidental taste is no cause for panic, but don't let kids eat it. It is salty and contains uncooked flour.
  • Contains wheat flour and cornmeal. Check for wheat/gluten and corn allergies before play.
  • Kool-Aid can stain hands, clothes and surfaces.
  • Supervise sensory play at all times, especially with toddlers who still mouth things.

Before the kids arrive

  • Make the edible sand from our earlier post if you want sprinkles.
  • Decide on colors: plan one batch per Kool-Aid flavor/color.

Steps

  1. Put 2 tbsp flour, 1/4 cup cornmeal, 1 tbsp salt and 1 tbsp cream of tartar in a bowl.

  2. Add 1 tbsp oil and the Kool-Aid: a whole envelope for intense color, half for a subtle one.

  3. Adult: pour in up to 1/4 cup boiling water and stir. Use less water for a grittier dough.

  4. Let it cool, check it isn't hot, then knead it into a ball.

  5. Repeat with a new Kool-Aid flavor for each color.

  6. Press the balls flat into sand dough cakes and take big whiffs of the scent.

  7. Cut out circles with tiny plastic cups.

  8. Stack the circles up to make cakes and structures.

  9. Sprinkle edible sand on top like sprinkles.

  10. Mix the colors together to make rainbow cakes.

Tips

  • By varying the water you get 2 different textures. A little less than 1/4 cup makes it grittier; slightly more makes it less gritty. The kids loved both.from the author
  • Use the entire Kool-Aid envelope (2 tsp) for an intense color, half an envelope for a more subtle color and scent.from the author
  • Making sand dough cakes was a wonderful sensory activity: the kids talked about the dough and took big whiffs of the scent. Watermelon was their favorite.from the author
  • I loved that the kids enjoyed mixing the edible play sand and the sand dough. They used the sand as sprinkles.from the author
  • The gritty texture is a welcome change from the usual smooth and soft play dough.from the author
  • Each batch makes one small ball. For a group, plan several batches per color.from the author

Make it your own

  • Mix the colors to create rainbow cakes.
  • Sprinkle with edible sand from our earlier recipe.
  • Cut circles with tiny cups and stack them into multi-layer cakes and structures.
  • Pair with an island or beach theme for summer.

The story behind it

By TurkeyMom · July 2014
sand dough with edible ingredients
Continuing our sand theme, we created a wonderfully gritty sand dough with a gorgeous texture for little hands. Bonus: it is scented and made from kitchen ingredients. You see the gorgeous rainbow edible sand?
1 / 8

Taste-Safe Sand Dough: the original post

Make this gritty taste safe sand dough perfect for toddlers and preschoolers. This play recipe is made using edible ingredients. Well, what do you know! The 4th just passed and we are into full blown summer. { All our summer activities for kids here} Continuing with our earlier sand theme, where we made edible sand we improvised and created a wonderfully gritty “edible” sand dough with a gorgeous texture for little hands. Bonus— it is scented and made from your kitchen ingredients. You see the gorgeous rainbow edible sand? Don’t forget to check out the sand recipe in our earlier post and stop by all our play recipes.

sand dough with edible ingredients

The texture of this dough is gritty and is a welcome change from the usual smooth and soft play dough. We do love our usual play dough and we have even made a chilled version { chilled playdough recipe} But we really wanted to experiment with creating a sandy, gritty dough to welcome summer!

orange sand dough

By varying the water quantity you can get 2 different textures. The one below has slightly more water which results in less gritty sand dough. The one on top has a grittier texture.

Pink sand dough

Making sand dough “cakes” was a wonderful sensory activity for the kids since they talked about the dough and taking big whiffs of the scent. The watermelon scent (using our trusted Watermelon Kool-Aid} was their favorite.

play recipe for sand dough

I loved that the kids enjoyed mixing the edible play sand and the sand dough. They used the sand as sprinkles.

colorful sand dough

The colors were of course mixed to create rainbow cakes.

sand dough for kids recipe kids playing with sand dough

The tiny plastic cups (island theme) were used to cut out simple circles. The children then stacked them up to make multiple cakes and structures.

sand dough for kids

To make similar sized balls of sand dough, use the following measurements.

Edible Sand Dough Recipe

Water: I added 1/4 cup of boiling water to some colors and less than 1/4 cup of boiling water to other colors. The kids loved both but the lesser water makes the dough grittier.

Kool-Aid: Again the entire envelope ( 2 tsp) for an intense color and half the envelope for a more subtle color and scent. Popular play recipes here. Taste safe water beads for sensory play and taste safe slime with just one key ingredient

touch edible slime

Try our summery mango play dough recipe and tropical play dough recipes.

edible-sand-dough-recipe-copy

What readers say

💬 1 comments

Tried it?

Reviewed before it appears. No links, and please no children's names.

Read all 1 comments

  1. Jeanine · Jul 2014

    I love this! Can't wait to give it a try!

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