Fun in the Sand

Sand Dough

1 cup sand
½ cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon alum
¾ cup water

Optional; twigs, toothpicks, shells…etc

Add cornstarch, sand and alum to a saucepan; use a wooden spoon to mix thoroughly.

Add water and stir the mixture until it is smooth and the cornstarch is dissolved.

Then cook the clay over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. The clay should start to thicken within a minute or two. (It will get weird-looking chunks in it and you will think you’ve done something wrong. But keep stirring, it’ll turn out OK) Stir more vigorously, being sure to scrape the mixture from the sides and bottom of the pan.

After about 3 minutes of cooking, the clay will have thickened to the consistency of play dough. Remove the clay from the pan. Once it’s cool enough to handle, you can start sculpting. (You can wrap it in plastic wrap and keep it, but only for a day or two.)

Once your sculpture is dried you can use clear glue to reattach any pieces that may have fallen off. It took my castle 4-5 days to completely dry all the way through.