When my younger son asked for Aqua Sand for his upcoming fourth birthday, I gave him one of my best non-committal dad answers to give me time to think it over. I had seen the commercials, so I was familiar with the basic concept. I had seen enough to realize that I needed to do a mental pros & cons checklist before I committed to the gift.
On the plus side, it isn’t all that expensive. The starter kits clock in at under $20 at my local Wal-Mart. Checkmark for affordability. It also got a checkmark for not being a video game or DVD. Anything that doesn’t involve staring at the TV set gets an automatic bonus point on the pro side.
On the negative side, it looked like it would make a real mess. I decided to hold my ground against the Aqua Sand, thinking he’d forget it quickly. Too bad his grandparents didn’t get that memo. He is now the proud owner of an Aqua Sand set.
The gist of the toy is that you can build underwater sand sculptures. The commercials promised that the sand would dry instantly upon removal from the water, which I was far too sophisticated a consumer to believe. Turns out that their claims are 100% true. I don’t know how it works, but the water beads off the second that you remove the sand.
That doesn’t make the clean-up quick, but it is pretty neat to marvel at. My son had fun playing with the Aqua Sand for a while, but I think the clean-up took longer than the total play time. And the clean-up is definitely a job for an adult. You have to scoop out the sand one little sifter-full at a time and pour it back into the bottles via a tiny funnel.
The set came with a bottle of pink sand and a bottle of purple sand. That didn’t last long. Since the sands coalesce in the water and there is no practical way to re-separate them, we’re left with two bottles of pink & purple sand.
Final analysis – not as messy as I thought it would be, not as fun as he thought it would be.
Yes – we got sucked into buying aquasand as well. To be honest it hasn’t been too bad. the girls are still enjoying mucking about with it and have figured it all out. Totally agree with you – would much rather they play with aquasand that keeps them away from tv unlike other products.
i found that if you pour the water and sand threw a coffee filter, you can just pour the sand right back into the bottles!!!
Brilliant solution on the coffee filter!!!!!!