Moon Sand

Have you seen Brookstone's Sand???  My mother-in-law has some and over the Christmas holiday while we were in Utah, William fell in love with the stuff.  It's pretty cool, actually!  It feels just like sand, but it's moldable and doesn't stick to your hands like sand does.  Anyway, since playing with this Sand, Will has been asking to get some.  But, instead of going to the mall and buying some, I decided that we'd make our own!  After looking up different recipes and combinations online, (and because we don't have any regular play sand on hand) I decided Moon Sand was what we'd make.  This Moon Sand has a different consistency than Brookstone's Sand, or any regular play sand; it's a lot softer (because it's used with flour), but is still moldable.

To make Moon Sand, it just takes two ingredients!  Here's the simple recipe:

4 Cups Flour

1 Cup plus 1 Tbsp Baby Oil

After pouring the flour and baby oil into a large container, mix it together until the oil is entirely incorporated and the flour is no longer sticky, but moldable instead.

I put half the mixture on a separate cookie sheet for Will to play with and kept the remainder in a baking dish for Clara (I was hoping the raised edges of the baking dish would keep her from getting too messy.  I was wrong . . . ).  I gave the kids a bunch of different cooking utensils, including some cute little panda and bunny egg molds to play with, and Will also brought his ninja turtle along to snowboard down his Moon Sand hills.

This project was a total success!  Both kids had a fun time playing with it--and it entertained them for over a half hour!  Pretty good, especially for my messy little 21 month old who usually can't sit still, and she only tried to taste it once . . .  or maybe twice :)  My only complaint is that it's super messy!  But, as messy as it is, it's really easy to clean up.  Anything on the table was easily swept back in with the rest and all of the Moon Sand that ended up on the floor vacuumed right up.