Wishing for a day at the beach but stuck at home? We have a fun and easy way to bring the seaside into your home using items in your pantry. This sensory based Cereal Sand is a fantastic tactile experience for your Brisbane Kids to create sand castles and beach scenes. Enjoy the wonderful scented coloured sand with your sea loving Brisbane Kids.

You Will Need:

Scented coloured cereal (we used Froot Loops)
Bicarbonate of Soda
Water

How to Make Sand with Cereal:

Step 1

Sort coloured cereal into individual colours.

This is a great activity for colour recognition and sorting.

Step 2

Once the colours are separated, use a blender, grinder or mortar and pestle to grind the cereal into a grainy powder.

Step 3

Add as much bicarb to each individual colour as you like. The cereal is simply for colour and smell and a little bit of texture, so add as much bicarb as you wish to make for your sand quantity. We used ¼ cup of cereal powder to 1 cup of bicarb.

Step 4

Carefully add water in small quantities and mix continuously to avoid the bicarb dissolving. The mixture needs to be crumbly and still look quite dry, but when squeezed in your hand it should hold together.

Note: Some colours do not keep their tone. Our green turned brown when water was added.

Now its time to head down to the ocean! Your Brisbane Kids can create a sea side scene using small toys such as Lego people and use small cups and containers to create cereal sandcastles. Push Cereal Sand together to create a secluded island or reconstruct Queensland’s stunning “Rainbow Beach”. Mix all of the colours together to create a multi-coloured beach. The imaginative sea side play scene possibilities are endless.

Storage of Cereal Sand:

Store in an air tight container. If the mixture dries out, simply add a small quantity of water.

Cereal Sand Extension Play:

Read a book about the sea or a trip to the sea side and reconstruct the story with the Cereal Sand. For example, ‘Magic Beach’ by Alison Lester, ‘Grandpa and Thomas’ by Pamela Allen, ‘The Tram To Bondi Beach’ by Libby Hathorn or ‘Not a Nibble’ by Elizabeth Honey).

If your Brisbane Kids loved this activity, why not try Sensory Snow Play at Home or some of the great ideas from our Fun with Water and Kids post?

Cereal Sand