Recipe · Textured
Sand slime: a grainy slime that feels like the beach
Sand slime feels grainy and surprising under your fingers: a few spoonfuls of craft sand in a basic slime. The recipe, adapted for contact solution, and tips.
- DifficultyEasy
- Time15 minutes
- Makes1 ball
- Recommended ageAges 6+, with an adult
Adding sand to slime completely changes how it feels: it gets grainy and heavier, and it reminds you of the beach. The Little Bins for Little Hands recipe activates it with liquid starch; we use the baking soda and contact lens solution base, the same as in our other recipes.
Use fine craft sand (colored or not), clean and dry. Beach sand needs to be sifted and dried thoroughly.
Ingredients
- ½ cup (120 ml) white or clear PVA glue
- ½ cup (120 ml) water
- 3 to 4 tbsp (45 to 60 ml) fine, dry sand
- ½ tsp (2.5 ml) baking soda
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) contact lens solution (boric acid + sodium borate)
Supplies: a bowl, a spoon, a tray.
Why these ingredients? What the activator does and which glue to choose.
Steps
- Mix the glue and water.
- Add the sand one spoonful at a time.
- Mix in the baking soda.
- An adult pours in the solution a little at a time.
- Knead for a few minutes over the tray.
The most common slime fails
- The sand falls out
- Too much sand: take some out or add more slime base.
- The sand forms clumps
- It was poured in all at once, or it was damp. Use fine sand that’s completely dry and add it one spoonful at a time, mixing after each one.
Another problem? The Slime Fixer goes through every symptom.
Variations and ideas
- Colored sand in a clear base: a “sand art bottle” look.
- For a dough that molds like wet sand, see homemade magic sand.
How to store it
Airtight container, several weeks; left out in the air, it dries in a few days.
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