We love trying out new and different mediums for craft activities, so making sand art pictures with the kits from Kids Bee Happy was an ideal activity to keep Mr Z busy during the school holidays.
The kit contains two pictures; one small and one large size and a packet of ten sand art pens in mixed colours. It also includes a plastic sleeve and hook to attach so you can display it once the picture is finished, and two sticks which are used to peel off the different sections of the picture as you work.
Mr Z decided to do the small picture first, which is a Father Christmas design. His idea was to decorate Father Christmas in all different and unusual colours, to make a “really silly world, where everything is different.” I’m not one to stifle the kids creativity, so I let him go with his ideas rather than making him stick to the conventional Father Christmas colours. He really enjoyed decorating it in his own design and he found it quite funny to choose which colours he wanted in each place – like a pink beard!
The instructions are given with the kit and it is fairly easy to follow. I did help Mr Z a little and supervised him throughout the activity. Some 5 year olds may be able to do it independently, but for most I think some supervision is probably a good idea!
To get started, you choose the section you would like to colour with sand first, and lift up the yellow sheet from the front, just covering that section. This enables the sand to cover the area nicely without going over the lines into the next section and give a neat and effective finished result. Mr Z started with the sky which he decided to colour black, and we went on from there section by section. The sand pens are squeezable but to get more out at once, Mr Z decided to open the whole pen and shake some out, you can then spread it over the desired area by carefully shaking. Note: It’s recommended to do the activity on a tray, and this is why – as it will then be really easy to clean up all the shaken sand at the end.
Here’s the picture half way through – coming along nicely. As you can see, the bits which are not yet coloured still have their yellow cover to keep them clean until they are needed.
To complete the whole picture took us 45 minutes for the small picture. This may vary depending on how quick you work, but it seemed a good length for the activity as it kept Mr Z occupied for quite a while yet didn’t take forever for him to be able to see his finished result.
He enjoyed the activity and was quite proud of his finished picture, which he says looks awesome.
Before throwing away the left over sand in the tray, of course we had to use it for a bit of mark making as that is fun and seemed a wasted opportunity not to! You can also experiment with mixing the different colours in the tray before you get rid of the extra sand.
The Kids Bee Happy sand art kids are available from www.sandartcrafts.co.uk and start at only £5 for a kit like ours with one large and one small picture inside. This is good value, as both pictures combined will keep a child occupied for a good couple of hours+ and its a great easy way to experiment with new textures and different ways to make pictures. I think the activity would be enjoyed by children of all ages, whether boys or girls. It is not suitable for under 3s so do keep it out of toddlers’ reach.
Have you tried arts and crafts with Sand before? Let me know your thoughts and experiences in the comments
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Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
What a great little kit! We have a lady near us who does sand art at events and parties but I didn’t know you can buy kits to make pictures at home. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I used to love those when I was a child – like you say they require a bit of work, but not hours of boring colouring in! That big picture is huge too – it seems like a lovely thing to make 🙂
I’ve never tried sand art before (fear of the mess above all else) but this seems really good (and not that messy). I’m impressed how long it kept Mr Z occupied for. Definitely something to look out for.
not that messy at all, it all stays in the tray so its a 1 min clean up job of just pouring it into the bin!
we had them before and it can be quite messy! but kids love it!
They look great, I remember when I was a little one, it was always pasta that we stuck on paper to create pictures, I used to use as much as possible, then take it home and peel off what hadn’t already fallen off and have it for my tea! (yes, I’ve always been very practical!) Ha Ha!!
This looks great fun
That looks great, I’m not sure if F might struggle with it being only three but it would be fun to let him play around and try it. Especially the Frog version 🙂
That looks like a great craft activity and a very reasonable price too
What fun!! Miss M would love that, something different from the usual colouring kits.
We’ve never tried these sand kits before. Thank you for posting about them, they look great! And not as expensive as I’d imagined. I think we shall be trying one of these out soon!
I haven’t seen anything like this before – looks like a great way for little ones to be creative and makes a change from crayons 🙂 Not too pricey either – I may well order a pack.
I’ve not seen these before, they look great fun! X
Kitty loves Sand Art ! It’s one of her favourite things 🙂
Interesting idea – I’ve never come across it before. How does the sand stick to the picture?
We did something a bit similar with glitter yesterday with the different letters in D’s name but it was difficult to keep the glitter contained to the right letter all of the way through…
When you peel the yellow sheet, it exposes a sticky surface over that section
Looks good, not something I have any experience of either. Will have to look out for these when Monkey hits 5!
They are actually for 3+, I just felt they would be more suitable for Mr Z than Mr T. Your monkey may be ok with it!
I always wondered how sand art worked. Looks like good fun with great creativity.
Thanks for linking #LetKidsBeKids
This is the first time I’ve come across these kits, looks like good fun #LetKidsBeKids
This looks great fun, a really good activity. I haven’t seen kits like this before, will need to keep an eye out 🙂 #LetKidsBeKids
This is a great idea Anna and the kit seems very easy to use. It’s also a fantastic bonus if there’s less mess to clear up afterwards!
A beautiful, memorable piece of artwork you can make, using anything found in nature. From shells to twigs, combine it all into a framed snapshot of summer family fun.
Sand comes naturally in different colors, from light to dark. It’s good to use it as is, if it suits your needs. The darker sands are also good to make black sand but they will never be of use to make bright or light colors. You may want to get yourself some children’s white play sand, or if you happen to be near the beach where you can find that, you’re in the right place.