Kinetic Sand Bakery Boutique Patisserie – Review

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Fiona Martin

Kinetic Sand Bakery Boutique Patisserie from Spin Master is a sand making delight where you can create your own bakery items out of moulded sand and display them in the cleverly designed box that opens out into a bakery window display.

kinetic sand bakery

The kit contains everything you need, including two bags of brightly coloured sand, a selection of moulds and some cardboard pieces to add to the lid of your box and create your bakery display. The box is simple to assemble providing shelves to put your creations on and a centrepiece in the middle for a showstopper cake!

kinetic sand bakery 2

The children couldn’t wait to get stuck into the sand as the texture is really quite therapeutic between your fingers, and being non sticky it’s a pleasure to work with. The moulds are quite easy to operate, you just need to pack them tightly, give them a few taps and they do produce some really precisely moulded shapes. There are also two press out cutters which work really well once you get used to them. You need to hold the plunger up as you press down and then lift the shape out.

kinetic sand bakery 3

As you can see below, the children’s creations kept coming and they quite quickly filled the shelves with their cakes. They enjoyed trying to make each one different and see what different combinations they could come up with. The cakes held together quite well and as long as you don’t touch them too much they will stay as they are until you break them up again.

kinetic sand bakery 4

I think the finished bakery display looks great and the children were certainly proud of their efforts. I think having a backdrop to put their items on really made a difference and added to the play value.

kinetic sand bakery 5 What’s great about this kinetic sand is that once you made something, you can break it up again and start again, which makes this playset great value for money as I know it is something my children will come back to again and again!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review.

John Adams Sands Alive Play Sets – Review

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Fiona Martin

Sands Alive play sets from John Adams are a delight to young children who love sand, enjoy using their hands to be creative and like having fun making things. My two children were excited about the idea of playing with sand indoors and I found these sets to be quite well contained and easy to clean up.

We received the Classic and Animal set to try out. They both come with a tray to play in, a bag of sand and various moulds to shape the sand with.

Both children sat quietly playing, enjoying the texture of the soft sand through their fingers. It’s a great product that’s non sticky, really soft, making it great for kids of any age to play with.

Mister B loved the paw tracks roller which led to lots of imaginative play with some of his figure toys over the animal prints. What is quite amazing is how well defined the sand is one you stamp it or mould it. The edges are really smooth and clear to see. The shapes are easy to press out of the moulds with a few light taps.

Miss M was very proud of the sand ball that she made and it did look quite impressive. The animals were good although a little tricky for younger ones to get out of the mould easily, but we are practising and they are getting better as we get to grips with the moulds. We also made lots of towers for the animals to live in.

The children really enjoy playing with Sands Alive, it’s creative fun that they can play with in the house. We just used an art mat underneath and found it simple to hoover up any excess. I think these are great play sets for children, ideal gifts and something they will enjoy time and time again. A different, new texture that is great to explore!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the sets in order to write an honest review.

No Mess Play Foam from Learning Resources – Review and win

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Fiona Martin

When I was sent No Mess Play Foam to review from Learning Resources, I was very intrigued. Would it really be no mess? How well would it stick together? Would there be little balls of foam all over the floor?

Miss M who is 5 was very keen to try the Play Foam – she loves anything crafty and was eager to get her fingers on this new and exciting looking texture. The first thing I noticed was how pliable the balls of foam were and you can literally mould them into shapes, pull it apart and stick it back together. In fact it seemed incredibly sticky but the bizarre things was there was no stickiness on your fingers or to anything else. Wow – quite amazing, I was definitely impressed, the “No Mess” quality of this product really is true.

Mister B absolutely adored testing his fingers in the Play Foam and together they had sausage rolling races and really helped them interact and have fun. The colours will merge if you mix the individual colours together which did eventually happen to ours, but this didn’t phase my little ones in the slightest and they continued to play with this day after day.

A few days later I came home to find daddy playing with the Play Foam, creating different shapes such as a pear, turtle, duck, rowing boat!! The children were fascinated by his creations and it really spurred them on to have a go at trying different ideas for themselves.

We’ve had lots of fun with No Mess Play Foam as it really is different to anything else we’ve tried. We’d highly recommend everyone to give it a go – lots of sticky fun with no mess – what more could you ask for!!

If you fancy trying a pack for free then why not enter the Learning Resources competition to WIN 1 of 5 packs on their Facebook page. Entries close on Friday 7th June 2013.

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions. We are not paid for reviews although we do receive the product to try out and enable us to write the review.