The great moon sand experience

Okay, I’ve been forewarned. A couple of years ago, I read an angry mom’s blog about Moon Sand. She was soooo NOT happy at the trouble Moon Sand put her through and was on the verge of suing the company for false advertising.

Moon Sand, she said, isn’t an indoor toy as its creators originally claimed. It’s messy and difficult to clean.

So, when someone gave a pack of Moon Sand to one of my kids, I immediately put it away at a safe place until I could figure out how my kids can enjoy it without all the mess I did not want to deal with.

Last week, I led Pablo and Lukas to the driveway (a yard would have been nice but we don’t have that) to a plastic basin at a corner where I poured out the 2 packs of Moon Sand I’ve kept for over a year.

I threw in their collection of sand rakes, shovels and mills and sat on the steps with my 9-month old on my lap while I watched my two older kids relish their afternoon play time.

That mom’s review was accurate to the last detail, but since I was prepared, it wasn’t as horrifying an experience for me as it had been for her.

My boys shoveled, packed, shaped and scattered the soft, moist sand for hours! When they got bored sitting, they went running & laughing around the driveway, throwing mounds of blue-colored sand all over the place. By the time I steered them to the bathroom, particles of sand were on their hair, neck, knees, shirts, soles and in the case of my 2-year old Lukas, his diapers!

They really had a blast with it and I’m so glad that I decided to do away with our usual homeschooling work sheets for today. The boys used up whatever was left of the sand in the bathroom before they actually took their baths. Where’s our Moon Sand now? It’s all gone.

There will be no repeats of the opened packs for us. It’s practically good for one-time use only. It was definitely fun, I was delighted to see my children enjoy every bit of their moonsand experience.

Price is pretty steep, though, so I don’t know when I’d buy or if I would even buy. Maybe I should mix up some ingredients and try to come up with a substitute for it, hmm.