My inspiration for this craft came from a very popular indoor sand play table at the Children’s Discovery Museum in Acton. The table has a light underneath and is roughly the size of three serving trays. I wanted a way for my kids to have a similar experience at home, and thought using food would be a good idea since my 10-month-old still puts everything in his mouth.
Materials:
- Serving tray (I got mine for $1.99 at Ikea)
- Coarsely ground flour. Rice flour works well because it absorbs moisture more slowly, but I combined the rice flour with corn meal to give it more color. A really coarse grain like Scottish/Irish oatmeal works well too.
- Child-safe silverware for making patterns (I got place settings for six for $1.99, again at Ikea)
STEPS
1) Find a tray with some edge, but not tall enough that it’s hard for children to reach inside
2) add coarsely ground flour
3) Time to play!
If my kids were older, I think it would be fun to add dry beans for them to use to make patterns.








What a great idea! Two of my kids are preschoolers and we could use some fresh ideas. I look forward to hearing all your great ideas. Keep them coming.
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Thats a good idea. I notice you don’t really mention the CLEANUP :)
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I am trying this one this afternoon…I’ll give my two year old some water in a container after a wee play with the dry flour first. Thanks
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maryanne Reply:
September 4th, 2012 at 10:10 pm
Great idea to extend the play with some water!
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