One of the first documented uses of sand in animation can be seen in the special effects in Lotte Reiniger's film The Adventures of Prince Achmed.
While Reiniger is known for her animated silhouette cutouts, she employed Walter Ruttmann on the film to create magical effects with sand and wax underneath her cut-outs.
[2] Caroline Leaf began using sand for animation when she was an undergraduate art student at Harvard University in 1968.
[4] In the 1970s, Eli Noyes, another Harvard graduate, created the short film Sandman (1973)[5][6] and the Sand Alphabet (1974), which became a feature on the children's educational television program Sesame Street.
[10] In 2006, Gert van der Vijver[11] created the series De Zandtovenaar (The Sand Magician) on Dutch national television and since then, animates for the yearly outdoor play The Passion.