Here’s a fun project for kids (or just the kids at heart) to use some of that sand we colored yesterday.

In addition to the colored sand you’ll need the following:

• Disposable spoons
• Paper Funnels
• Straws
• Jars or other containers

To make the paper funnels, just take a square of plain paper and fold the two bottom corners in towards the center, forming a cone. Tape the overlapping edges together, leaving a bit of of an opening at the tip.

Depending on your sand, the funnels may or may not work. My sand was too fine and tended to clump rather than flow. In that case, straws seem to work great for picking up bits of sand and depositing in the vials or just using the spoons to pour it in.

I have these little vials left over from a former project (the Manicure Gift Card–another of my eHow articles) but you could use pretty much anything clear or mostly clear. Empty spice jars, extract bottles, small craft bottles, baby food jars: use your imagination!

Part of the fun of filling the containers is the random combinations of colors and patterns that happen.

A couple of tricks I can think of off-hand include filling the bottle sideways for a sliding layers look and putting in just a bit of colored sand, shaking it about to get it to stick to the sides and then filling it the rest of the way with a contrasting color. The larger the opening the easier it will be to create more artistic patterns.

Of course, then you want to seal up the jars to preserve the neat little works of art. If, however, you’re like me and can’t seem to remember where you placed the cute little stoppers that you ordered to go with the cute little vials (sigh… they’re here somewhere, I know it, I just can’t remember which box they ended up when we moved!) just look around and see what might be available in a pinch.

I used (from left to right) a decorative button (the shank kind, not the kind with holes), a piece of polished hematite, a glass bead (turned on it’s side to prevent sand from escaping through the hole–you could also fill it in with a bit of glue) and a plastic grape pulled off a decorative bunch. The button is my favorite and all were attached with a little bit of tacky glue. You might want to go with a clear glue, if that matters to you, or even a hot glue gun for a wax seal look. In fact, you could just stopper them with globs of hot glue and call it a day, too!

Of course, if you’re a little more put-together than I am and remember where you put the corks or have lids to your containers, you can still decorate them if you want with paint, paper, beads or nothing at all.