Sensory Play with Kinetic Sand

From early on it was obvious that bub was a very tactile baby, moreso than the other babies we hung out with. She's always loved touching and feeling everything and other mums have commented on it on numerous occasions. So I always knew sensory play would be a big part of our lives. Of course we had to wait until she got over the I-must-put-everything-in-my-mouth stage. That stage seems to go on foooorever, doesn't it? But we finally got past it.

I have to admit I really love sensory play too. I love feeling different textures {perhaps that's where she gets it from}, but I don't always love the mess that goes hand in hand with it. I don't mind playdoh because its relatively easy to clean up {although when she mixes all the colours together my OCD goes off the charts and my brain almost explodes}. However, playing with playdough all the time gets monotonous and if you're like me and don't clean it up as soon as they lose interest then the stuff tends to go hard and become useless. Yea I've been guilty of ruining a few bits of playdough in my time. So we've been expanding our horizons lately and looking for alternatives to the humble old playdough and have discovered kinetic sand.

Being an avid beach babe bub took to the kinetic sand straight away. In fact I think her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw it. "Beach mummy, beeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaach!". Sand + the actual beach are both the beach to her, so she was super excited to have her own beach at home. We don't have a sandpit {I know poor deprived child} and kinetic sand is the closest she'll ever get to one, because cats + a tiny townhouse courtyard = no room for a sandpit. Kinetic sand is heaps better though because I can set it up anywhere {we used her play table out in the backyard} and put it away again when we're done. Totally portable and maintenance free.

We've both had heaps of fun using the shape cutters to make different shapes in the sand. Yes we, because we all know I'm a big kid at heart. Bub was also quite impressed with herself using the knife to cut the sand because mummy still doesn't allow her to use real knives. This one is plastic and completely blunt though so it passes the helicopter mum test. The shape cutters are also great to use with playdough or as cookie cutters {but maybe clear the sand residue off first or they may be a tad crunchy}.

Kinetic sand has been around for a while now and everyone's been raving about it, so of course I've wanted to try it for ages {but that I-must-put-everything-in-my-mouth stage meant I had to curb my enthusiasm and wait a while}. Kinetic Sand is really cool, mould-able sand. Its basically like the sand equivalent of playdough. Its 98% sand and 2% magic {aka bonding agent} which means it can keep its shape when pushed together so it can be moulded into all different shapes and sculptures. Its similar to playing with wet sand, but when you pick it up it becomes fluid and takes on a fluffy liquid like texture. It has the best of both worlds because you can run it through your fingers like dry sand and mould it like wet sand {plus it wont fly in your face if its windy}. This video demonstrates the texture of it really well.

I tried to make a log shape and cut it into little pieces like the one they cut up in the promo video, but of course I failed miserably. Here's a tip, if you're trying to do something cool to take a photo, don't do it when your 2yr old is around because they will take over and ruin it. Having said that though she made my pathetic little sculpture into an awesome train and drove it around the table. I liked it better as a train anyway. Kids really do have extraordinary imaginations and can make anything into a game. By some fluke I happened to grab my phone and record it before she lost interest.

We also grabbed some of her sand moulds from her sand and water table so I could show her how to make awesome 3d shapes. Of course that was about as successful as the log sculpture incident as she wanted to pick them up straight away. Kinetic sand makes great moulded shapes, however when you pick it up it becomes fluid almost immediately so it breaks apart pretty quickly. As you can imagine toddlers aren't the most delicate of creatures so my poor sand teddy never stood a chance. She still thought it was amazing though. Note to self next time take awesome mould photos while she's napping. 

Kinetic sand is a great alternative to going to the beach, for the days you don't have the time or the energy to get everything packed up and drive all the way there. And it can be used indoors so is great for rainy days when kids are bored. Its a really great unstructured play activity which helps build fine motor skills. Plus it keeps kids entertained for ages, bub normally has a maximum attention span of about 15 minutes, but she sits playing with kinetic sand for over an hr at a time. Just make sure you supervise kids while they're playing as they may be tempted to sneak a taste and its not designed to be ingested. If you're after a taste safe sensory option, I have a recipe for edible dirt here which is a similar consistency to kinetic sand.

Are your kids in love with the beach as much as mine?

Toni x

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