Christmas Moon Sand Sensory Activity

After years of trying to crack the code, I have FINALLY discovered how to add color to moon sand, and it’s epic sensory fun! We are thrilled to introduce Christmas moon sand for hours (and hours) of festive sensory play.

Table of Contents:

1. I have been dreaming of Christmas moon sand for years
2. Christmas moon sand is just the beginning
3. Materials
4. Directions
5. What oil is best for moon sand?
6. Let’s have a chalk talk
7. How to store Christmas moon sand
8. FAQs

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I have been dreaming of Christmas moon sand for years

LITERALLY. I have wanted to make colorful Christmas moon sand for 10+ years now.

Moon sand is made with just flour and oil, so it’s white. Always white.

Since liquids don’t mix with oil, I haven’t ever been able to add color to moon sand.

Until now. *cue the confetti cannons*

Related: You can add all the colors under the sun to a GIANT 10-foot Christmas coloring page (the.best.thing.ever.)

Christmas moon sand is just the beginning

Now that we can make moon sand colorful, this is just the beginning of the fun to come.

We have made Halloween moon sand by adding Halloween sprinkles, and it’s such a hit.

And now, we can have moon sand in every color of the rainbow!

Sensory play is our fave. Try some of these other sensory activities, too:

• Warm Tea Fall Sensory Table
• Dyed Corn Sensory Table – super easy to make in Christmas colors
• Oobleck Color Factory – also easy to make Christmassy
• Jingle Bells Scoop and Transfer

Materials

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• Flour
• Baby oil
• Chalk
• Shallow tray – these look great
• Christmas toys
• Spatula – optional 
• Plastic zippered bag and rolling pin or mortar and pestle
• Popsicle stick – optional

Directions

Mix together:

• 4 cups flour
• ½ cup baby oil
• 1 ground-up piece of chalk

To grind your chalk, you can

• Put it into a plastic zippered bag and crush it with a rolling pin (what we did here)
• Use a mortar and pestle (we’ve done this method 1,000 times for other chalk projects, and kids LOVE it)
• Run a popsicle stick down the side of the chalk to shave it (we did this here, too!)

Mix until all ingredients are incorporated using a spatula or your hands.

You’ll know it’s ready when you can mold the moon sand into a ball, and it retains its shape.

You can always double or triple the recipe. When doing this with a group of kids, I at least double.

What oil is best for moon sand?

We have only ever used baby oil for moon sand, and it’s wonderful.

Moon sand has been on repeat here for 10+ years and flour + baby oil make a wonderful team.

Baby oil is easy to find at stores like Target and Walmart (in the baby section), but we also have had luck finding it at the Dollar Tree, too.

While we haven’t tried it ourselves, I do know some people have used cooking oils like vegetable, coconut, or olive oils, too.

Let’s have a chalk talk

Here, I used only one piece of sidewalk chalk, and it added TONS of color. I was blown away.

You can, of course, add more or less chalk to your liking depending on how much you make.

If you don’t have sidewalk chalk on hand, skinny chalkboard chalk will work, too (you’ll just need more than one piece).

How to store Christmas moon sand

When done playing, store your Christmas moon sand in an airtight container or zippered plastic bag.

We have kept our moon sand for weeks before and have never had a batch look, smell, or feel anything less than fresh.

As with any sensory material, if it starts to look or smell different, it’s easy to toss and a make a new, fresh batch.

Being able to store this for future open-and-go play is simply the best.

FAQs