Sand Art

Sand Art is a free sand art game based on the classic craft of layering colored sand in a clear container. Pick a bottle, a jar, a heart vase or a dino-shaped bottle, choose from 16 sand colors and pour from a funnel you move with your mouse, finger or keyboard. Each pour heaps into a hill on top of the last one, so your layers come out as waves and peaks. You can tilt the glass for slanted stripes, poke down through the sand for petal and zigzag patterns, then save your bottle as a picture. It runs in your browser with no download.

How to play

Start with Free create to make whatever you like, or open Challenges to copy a target bottle.

• Pick a container: the Bottle has a wide body and a narrow neck, the Jar is wide and open, the Heart vase is heart shaped with a thin neck, and the Dino bottle has legs, a tail, a long neck and a head. Switching shapes gives you a new empty container.
• Choose a color: tap one of the 16 swatches, or press [ and ] to step through them. The funnel shows the color it holds.
• Pour: hold down on the game and sand streams out of the funnel. Move while you hold and the funnel follows, so you can draw a thin line in one spot or spread a color across the whole glass. On a keyboard, the arrow keys move the funnel and Space pours.
• Watch it pile: sand heaps up under the funnel and slides down the sides until the slope is gentle enough to hold. Pour in one spot for a tall peak; pour in several spots for rolling hills.
• Tilt: the tilt buttons (or Q and E) lean the glass up to 15 degrees either way. Sand poured while it leans settles level with the ground, so the layer comes out slanted when you set the glass straight again.
• Poke: switch to the Poke tool (or press T) and drag down from the top of the sand. The poke pushes the upper colors down into the layers below, with a narrow V around it. Do it in a few places for the classic flower and zigzag looks.

Undo (or Z) takes back the last pour or poke, and Clear empties the glass. Your current bottle is saved in your browser, so you can close the page and pick it up again with Continue creating.

Challenges

There are 10 target bottles, from simple stripes in a jar to a rainbow, a dino at sunrise and two bottles that need the poke tool. The target sits in the top corner, and holding the Peek button shows it full size. Pour your copy, then press Check. The game compares your sand with the target cell by cell, giving full credit for the right color in the right place and partial credit for a color that is close in shade or a layer that is a little high or low. A 60% match earns one star, 75% earns two and 88% earns three. Your best stars for each bottle are saved.

Saving your art

• Save PNG downloads your bottle as a 768 by 928 pixel image.
• Keep stores the bottle in a gallery of up to 12 on this device. Open Gallery and tap a bottle to load it again, or delete ones you no longer want.

Tips

• Lay a base first. Sweep the funnel slowly from side to side for the first color so it covers the bottom. Later colors then form neat bands instead of one big cone.
• Poke between contrasting colors. A white or light layer over a dark one shows the poke clearly. Poke where the top layer is thick so there is plenty of color to push down.
• Copy the layer order in challenges. Getting each color at the right height matters more than matching every grain.

FAQ

Is this sand art game free?

Yes. It is free with no account and nothing to install.

Does it work on phones and tablets?

Yes. Hold a finger on the glass to pour and slide it to move the funnel. Touching the game will not scroll the page, so you can pour without the screen jumping around.

How is this different from a falling sand game?

A falling sand sandbox simulates many elements reacting with each other. Sand Art is about the craft of layering one kind of sand in a glass container to make a pattern you can keep, with tilting, poking and pattern challenges.

Like pouring and mixing materials? Try the Sandbox Game for a falling-sand simulator with water, lava and fire, or draw pixel by pixel in Pixel Art Maker.