Art School | Summer Sand Art

by Deborah Harju, posted on June 26th, 2014 in Art School

Today’s art lesson is inspired by my family’s recent summer vacation to the Hawaiian Islands. The tropical islands have so much history and beauty, it took our breath away daily. The Hawaiian Islands are believed to be first settled by Polynesians who brought with them all the things that Hawaii is now known for, sugar cane, pigs, taro, chickens, coconuts, and sweet potato. One thing that the early settlers didn’t bring with them is sand. Sand in Hawaii is native to Hawaii!

Hawaii is known for their beautiful sand beaches. Did you know that depending on what beach you are on, the sand can be completely different in color and composition? Black sand beaches are very common, as well as green sand. There is sand made of volcanic rock, lava, reef minerals, and the white sand beaches are composed of shells, coral and algae. If you live near an ocean, lake or river, have you ever researched where the sand originates from? Is it made from local quartz sediment, is it fine to the touch or very textured? Are the grains large or small? You can learn so much from a place based on what you learn about the sand!

For today’s project you will need large popsicle sticks or tongue depressors, white glue, at least two types of sand (you can also purchase colored sand at your local craft store), and small shells or other little bits of nature found nearby (twigs, leaves, rocks, shells, etc).

Place two popsicle sticks parallel and then glue a row of sticks perpendicular and on top of the two parallel ones, kind of creating a frame.

Cover the sticks in white glue and then pour your background sand all over the glue. Let it dry in the sun and then shake off all the loose sand.

Use white glue to either create a word, a design or a shape. Then use a different textured or colored sand to cover the glue. Once dry, shake off the excess.

Now for your border, take your collection of nature items and glue them around the edges. We collected small shells one day and are using them for the border here.

Once dry, you now have a keepsake inspired by the beautiful sand beaches of Hawaii, or maybe your local body of water was your nature inspiration for this project.

Looking for more summer fun projects? Click here to for over 50 ideas! You shouldn’t hear “I’m bored!” once 😉