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  • Hi, I'm Vicky, the founder and content creator at Mess For Less. If you are looking for family-friendly recipes, recipes that kids can make, and play and learning activities for kids, you will find them at Mess For Less. I invite you to learn more about me. Thanks for stopping by!

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    Home » Sensory Activities

    Crushed Cereal Sand Dough - Sensory Recipe

    Published: Aug 19, 2013 · Modified: May 5, 2022 by Vicky · This post contains affiliate links.

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    You may have noticed that we have been on a cereal kick lately. I have discovered what fun it is to crush fruit cereal with the kids and use it in new ways. We have already done Scented Art and made a Crushed Cereal Rainbow Bottle. At this point it may just seem like I am milking this (I could not resist a milk pun in a cereal post, sorry!). But we got a little crush happy the other day and crushed more cereal than we needed, so I have been trying to think of creative uses for it. Today I will be sharing a simple sensory recipe for Sand Dough that we have colored using crushed cereal.

    Crushed Cereal Sand Dough - This simple sensory recipe uses just a few ingredients and is so much fun to play with. Kids love the soft and moldable texture.

    I got the basic sand dough recipe from Growing a Jeweled Rose where you will find tons of fun play recipes. Instead of coloring it with food coloring or liquid watercolors, we used the different colors of crushed cereals.

    Please supervise your child and use your good parental judgement with this and any activity. If your child still puts everything in their mouth, it would be best to hold off on this until they are older.

    You will need:

    • Baking soda
    • Water
    • Crushed fruity cereal like Fruit Loops or Fruity Pebbles

    Before you begin, you will need to crush your cereal. You can find a tutorial on how to do that here.

    baking soda, water and crushed cereal

    We used about a ¼ of a small applesauce cup of crushed cereal for each color of sand dough that we made. The amount of baking soda and water you use will vary depending on how much dough you wish to create.

    Pour the crushed cereal into a container with some baking soda and stir to combine. My kids had mixed some cereal colors the day before, so our red has a few other colors mixed in. Slowly add water to the baking soda and cereal mixture. You will want to be sure to add a little water at a time and mix it in well. If you add too much at once it could cause the baking soda to dissolve. You are going for a texture that is somewhat moist and can be molded, but can also be crumbly.

    mixing crushed cereal sand dough

    We made 5 colors of sand dough - red, orange, blue, green and yellow. Because our red had other colors mixed in, it was not as vibrant as the other colors.

    Soft and fluffy sand dough

    The dough turned out super soft and very mold-able just like we were hoping. It even smelled good because of the fruity cereal.

    Crushed Cereal Sand Dough - This simple sensory recipe uses just a few ingredients and is so much fun to play with. Kids love the soft and moldable texture.

    The sand dough provides a great sensory experience for kids. You can just dump some in a bin and let them start enjoying the texture. You can also add props to the sand dough as well, such as glass beads, rocks, small cups and small toys. You will be surprised at what they come up with.

    Playing with Sand Dough

    Like an animal birthday party.

    sand dough play

    The great thing about sand dough is that it holds its shape when molded so you can create something like this. Love how you can see the little flecks of cereal in there.

    San dough made with water, baking soda and crushed cereal.

    Then all that's left to do is decorate.

    Sensory play

    Store the sand dough in an airtight container. We have been using ours for over a week and it is still good.

    Colorful sand dough - 3 ingredient sensory play recipe

    For more sensory recipes check out:

    Soap Dough Recipe                                        

    Glitter Oobleck Recipe
                                 

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Amy

      June 24, 2022 at 11:06 am

      I'm about to try this with a group of kiddos I have. Roughly how much water and baking soda do you put in to start?

    2. BrandiScardina

      January 25, 2014 at 8:29 pm

      Mine turned into play dough, too much water maybe? It was still fun to make and entertaining my 4 yr old right now

    3. Jess From Our Tot School Journey

      November 05, 2013 at 3:06 am

      This looks like so much fun! I am gonna try this with my 2 year old tomorrow. I am sure he will love it!

    4. sunshinesmommy

      August 24, 2013 at 11:03 am

      Going to try this today. I can't wait.

    5. Vicky @ Mess For Less

      August 22, 2013 at 12:05 am

      Thank you Mary Catherine!

    6. Vicky @ Mess For Less

      August 22, 2013 at 12:05 am

      Thanks Jaime!

    7. Mary Catherine

      August 19, 2013 at 6:21 pm

      I love, love, love this idea! I can't wait to try it out as a new sensory play bin at home and preschool. 🙂

    8. Jaime JJ

      August 19, 2013 at 5:21 pm

      This is awesome !!

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    Hi, I'm Vicky, the founder and content creator at Mess For Less. If you are looking for family-friendly recipes, recipes that kids can make, and play and learning activities for kids, you will find them at Mess For Less. I invite you to learn more about me. Thanks for stopping by!

    St. Patrick's Day Activities and Recipes

    • Irish Soda Bread Recipe
    • St. Patrick's Day Activities for Kids
    • Black Glue and Salt Watercolor Rainbow - Salt Painting for Preschool
    • 15 Shamrock Activities for Toddlers

    Spring Activities

    • How to Make a Mother's Day Card
    • DIY Seed Starter for Kids
    • Flower Craft Idea
    • How to Make a Paper Butterfly - Easy Craft for Kids

    Popular Recipes

    • Crack Chicken Casserole
    • Overnight Egg Casserole
    • Toasted Italian Sandwich - Food Fun Friday
    • Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Bake

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