Supplies
Tools
- Bucket
- Spade (or shovel)
- Basic carving tools (a kitchen knife, trowel)
- Smaller knife for carving details
Materials
- Water
- Sand
- Beach sand or river sand (river sand works best, as it contains slit and clay.)
- Shop-bought sand is too 'clean' and won't hold together well.
- Decorations (shells, seaweed, etc...)
Directions
Prepare the sand for the sand whale
- Make a big pile of sand, which will be the base for your whale.
- Take a bucket and pour water into the pile.
- Repeat several times, making holes in the pile to ensure the water permeates right through.
- Compact the sand, using your hands.
- Make a much smaller pile behind the big pile in the same way (this will be for the tail).
Shape the sand whale
- Roughly shape and smooth the structure with your hands.
- Add a handful of sand to each side as fin, and shape with a carving tool.
- Add a small handful of sand on the top for the top fin.
- Shape the tail with a sculpting tool.
- Use a sculpting tool to neaten the edges of the whale.
NB: Keep your sand moist. The dryer it becomes, the more likely it is to crumble, so keep adding water as you go.
- Use a carving tool to hollow out the eyes, eyebrows and mouth.
- Use a finer knife to carve details.
- Once you are happy with your basic structure, feel free to decorate it however you like (here, we have left it undecorated).
