Feels Like Beach Sand Sensory Play

Beach sand is one of the softest, most inviting textures I have ever laid hands and feet on. Unfortunately, it’s not anywhere close to me in Colorado. I do happen to know of a sensory play recipe that feels like beach sand that I learned about ages ago. It’s the next best thing if you don’t have actual beach sand. Plus, it’s only two ingredients!

It is amazingly silky soft, and all my sensory seeking friends especially enjoy it — including myself. We made a sand crawling creature small world out of our beach sand sensory play recipe. I wish you could reach your hand in and feel this! I will warn you that it is addicting…and super messy!

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This is definitely an outdoor sensory bin for our family, since I want the kiddos to love it while keeping my own sanity. Have you guessed the two ingredients? Here’s another close up:

Ingredients

Flour
Coffee grounds

Instructions:

This is super easy I promise! Mix 1 part coffee grounds with 2 parts flour. Stir them together, and you will be hooked!

My flour was from the bottom of a bag that was sitting around…which had expired almost two years ago. The coffee grinds were from the coffee we had made. I just let them air dry completely, then mixed it all together.

Then of course we added some of our favorite beach crawling creatures from a Toob ocean set similar to the one below.

Perhaps the children can pretend they are from the Galapagos Islands or any island.

Or they could be creatures who are native to the desert. Sand play is also perfect for a construction site.

Since ours was an ocean, we put a bowl of water next to the sensory bin for the creatures to get clean. You’ll see what I mean. The flour tends to coat the creatures really well.

And here is what our small world play area looks like at a distance. We just used a small kitchen container, which was perfect for one to two to play.

If you are looking to bring the beach to your children or even just to set up an ultra soft and inviting sensory bin, I think you will love this!

Please keep in mind that it is not in the best interest of every class or setting to use food for sensory play or play in general. I recommend carefully deciding if it’s a good fit for you or the families in your program. To read more about how I decide about using food for each individual class, you can read my post about using food for play.

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Katie

Creator at Preschool Inspirations

Katie has spent 15 combined years in the Early Childhood field as a teacher, preschool owner, and educational speaker. She has worked in profit and non-profit programs, high-risk schools, as well as her in-home preschool. Parenting and homeschooling fill her days now with her three children in Phoenix.