Character Options Magic Sand

So most kids love sand, including mine that are both boys aged 3 and 5. And what could be better than having sand that you use in water, has minimal mess, and can be used over and over again? No more sand in eyes, no more sand in shoes, socks, and underwear. Great idea! Well that is until you actually start to use it!
I bought the whole magic sand kingdom, which was priced at £14.99, so thought it was a bargain. There were lots of different ...
...things,and a tray to hold everything including the large bowl to do all the sand sculpting in.
So we all fill up the big bowl, excitedly sort out all the tools and other items, and choose the sand that we want to use. First obstacle to overcome was actually trying to get into the sand bottles. That took me forever so already the kids were getting fidgety before we'd even begun. Once that was sorted though, the kids attention was completely ... more

So most kids love sand, including mine that are both boys aged 3 and 5. And what could be better than having sand that you use in water, has minimal mess, and can be used over and over again? No more sand in eyes, no more sand in shoes, socks, and underwear. Great idea! Well that is until you actually start to use it!
I bought the whole magic sand kingdom, which was priced at £14.99, so thought it was a bargain. There were lots of different brightly coloured sand, numerous sculpture tools, little fish and such things,and a tray to hold everything including the large bowl to do all the sand sculpting in.
So we all fill up the big bowl, excitedly sort out all the tools and other items, and choose the sand that we want to use. First obstacle to overcome was actually trying to get into the sand bottles. That took me forever so already the kids were getting fidgety before we'd even begun. Once that was sorted though, the kids attention was completely on getting hold of the sand and starting to play.
The box has a lovely picture on it of what looks like a castle or something. Ok, i'm not expecting my young kids to be able to design anything like that, but i was at least expecting the sand to be built up high within the water. How wrong i was!
The kids poured the sand, while i watched feeling less than satisfied with it. A little bit of sand started building up on the bottom of the tank, maybe a cm high, but then most of the sand was just pooling on the surface of the water! So as for sculpting, there was no chance! To say the kids were unhappy with it would be an understatement! We just ended up with a bowl of water with a bit of sand on the bottom, and most of it layering the top.
So i think we actually spent a maximum of 10 minutes actually playing with it, and that was the first and only time we ever played with it!
On the upside, the sand can be used again, because once it comes out of the water it's dry. But again, more problems. It must have taken me about 20 minutes to get most of the sand out and get it back into the tiny bottles, and in the end i just gave up!
So overall it's a great idea, but once it's put into practice, i'd actually have to say that it's really not that great. Needless to say, we won't be rushing out to buy anymore of it in the future! 

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