There are plenty of homemade crafts that are great fun and an easy way to get your kiddos involved. One of my family favorites is making a colored rice box. Rice is very inexpensive compared to sand. We make all sorts of colors and keep our homemade ricebox in a large rubbermaid so we can play with it anytime of the year or even take it with us Grandma's house! Great for those winter blues!
How to make colored rice:
In a ziploc bag mix 1 1/2 cup of Rice, 2 tbsp. of Rubbing Alcohol & about 20 drops of food coloring (more if you want a more vibrant color).
zip the bag and let your kids squish the bag until all the rice is coated with the food coloring. Allow the rice to dry, pour into a container of choice and let the fun begin.
We like to hid little treasures in the ricebox so my daughter can dig for the hidden treasures!