Sand Beads

This has got to be one of the easiest crafts I have ever done with Bubba. Although, I still did most of the work, he really enjoyed trying to help. {but really, who doesn't enjoy crafting when they aren't the one doing it. It's so much easier to enjoy the end result.} 

This, easy-as-pie craft, only really requires two things:

Glue and Sand. 

You can get fancy, like us, and dye your sand with food coloring. But it really isn't necessary - you'll paint them in the end anyway. 

You may be thinking, "It's winter here! Where the heck am I going to get sand?" Well, my friend, I know I live in a tropical paradise not really though, and it is very true that I have year round beach access, but! I did not get this batch of sand off the shores of my local beach. We have a very large bag of sand sitting in our garage that was left over from a project Hubby completed months ago; this is my attempt at getting rid of some of it - one cup at a time. My point is, you don't have to be at the beach to get sand. If your kid has an untouched sandbox (or table), then you most likely have some sand sitting around, and I'm sure the kids will spare you a cup or two for a fun little craft for them.

Or you can just Pin this project, and wait until after your next family trip to the beach over Spring Break or Summer Vacay to make these little gems. 

I didn't really measure, but I'm going to say we used about 1 1/2 cups of sand and 3/4 cup of glue...give or take. 

You just want to be sure you have used enough glue to form a stiff dough. 

Shape the beads, and poke a hole through the center. We used an unsharpened pencil, but you could also use a straw, toothpick, or anything else you may have on hand. 

{Side-note: for some weird reason, we have a million unsharpened pencils floating around my house, yet we have no pencil sharpener. I'm not really sure how that is supposed to work out.}

Let dry for 24 hours. 

We let ours dry overnight, but in the morning I was dealing with a very impatient toddler who would not stop saying, "I paint. I paint in morning. Mommmmmmyyyyyy, paint!," in a very whiny voice. So, I popped them in a 200º oven for about 8 minutes {and we played Hungry Hungry Hippos while we waited}. 

Once they were cool, he finally got to paint {thank goodness}.

Make a necklace. Make a bracelet. Use for other projects. Just have fun with them.

We haven't had a chance to make anything with ours yet. We got side-tracked with a million other activities while waiting for the paint to dry, and just haven't had a minute to come back to them. 

Happy Crafting!