This was fabulously messy (perhaps that is not quite the right adjective?), required a good bit of clean-up, and was so darn fun anyway that I’d totally repeat it…outside. Do not be like me, and have them mix it up inside. Please learn from my mistake and do this whole thing, start to finish, OUTDOORS. I did “wise up” far too late, and had them play with it outside! In other words, probably not the best activity for the dead of winter if you live in a climate where it might be -2 outside in January, and your kids have to keep moving to stay warm.

To make our kinetic sand, we mixed five parts sand, three parts flour (or cornstarch, either is fine), and one part cooking oil. As always, the mixing was half the fun. Let me repeat: MIX THIS OUTDOORS. I had a two-year-old involved in the mixing and man, he really tried to keep it in the bowl. But for real. Do this outside. Bonus - more outside time!

Once it was mixed, I gave each child their own little tray and let them have at it. I also dug up some scoops (see what I did there? HA!) and spoons, and even some waterproof little people from a Strawberry Shortcake play set. Little Tykes figurines would also work nicely. I set my kiddos up on our balcony, which is a super convenient and safe kid jail toddler-containment-system.

I used this “free time” to clean up the mess we made mixing it up at the kitchen table. If you were smarter than me and made it outside to begin with, then you’d actually have a peaceful few minutes while they play. Mine were engaged in this for a good long while, which made the clean up worth it. (Perhaps you’ve read about my “worth it” gauge, involving a good ratio of time spent setting up and cleaning up to time spent with happily engaged kids?)

When we were done, I ended up with a big bonus for this one! When my littles took a nap, my bigs (who were 5 and 6 years old at the time, so “bigs” is a relative term) decided they wanted to wash the people and scoops we had used. Any kind of water play is popular around here, so I gave them a bowl of soapy water and a bowl of fresh water and they spent another good chunk of time scrubbing sand off of toys!

It was too good to be true. They finished the clean-up AND were productively engaged in MORE sensory play. WIN-WIN-WIN!!!