Have you seen this Kinetic Sand yet? It is pretty amazing stuff actually- it is a version of sand that is soft and doesn’t dry out.
It can be molded into different forms like wet sand but it doesn’t make the huge mess of normal sand. It is really fun to play with actually and it is apparently the hot new thing everyone needs to have :).
I wanted to pick this up for my little ladies as a quiet time activity for the summer and thought I’d pass along some of the deals I have found:
Michaels: 2lbs for $19.99- I used a 40% off coupon and paid $12.
Please note they keep selling out of this stuff and I had to make 3 trips before we finally got a box.
Final Price: $5.99 per lbJoann’s: Sand’s Alive Play Compound 1lb box $9.89– on sale so no extra coupons
Final Price: $9.89 per lbTarget: Cra-Z Sand $18 for (I think) 2.75lbs
Buy One Get One 50% off so $27 for 5.5 lbs– sale starts Sunday!
Final Price: $4.90 per lb
Amazon has the best price but you are getting a much larger quantity. Note I personally think this particular brand is better quality then the Cra-Z and Sand’s Alive as well but just my opinion. This might be something to share with friends or get it and portion it out as gifts.
Kinectic Sand 11 lbs $45
Final Price: $4.09 per lb
If you divide it in half and do some as a gift and some for your kids it isn’t nearly as painful to pay that $45 price.
Now my kids have loved this stuff so far but note the 1 and 2 lb packages are not a lot of sand. Not enough for 2 children to play with. Oh and also watch those boxes because many picture sand toys but they don’t actually include the toys with the package. I got some sand toys in the Dollar Spot for our box.
If you want to see how it works on video, there is a You Tube video here. I thought the video was very realistic- the sand we got at Michael’s looks just like that. I can’t say for the Sand’s Alive and Cra-z Art.
Also my 6 year old was having so much fun with this stuff today- she molded a picture of me, my husband, herself and a tiny model of the dog and apparently got on my phone to take pictures -and turned on a weird filter while she was at it 😉 . You can see she used every bit of sand so really the 2lbs is not a lot for the kids to play with.
Thanks Rachel!
Sophie says
Got 3 boxes at Michaels. The first 2 I got a couple of weeks ago, ever since they ran a sale on it they have been out. This week they are back up to regular price ($17.99 by us) and they had alot in stock. With 40% coupon it’s cheaper than any sale I have seen so far. I also got sand molds at dollar tree. Also did the groupon deal last week ($25 for $50) for Brookstone, I actually only paid $15 for it as a box popped up saying I would save $10 of off $25 purchase. Then got wooden sandbox and molds at Brookstone (reg. $19.99 each….), added smth small to get to $50. After the kids are done with the sand then my husband can put sandbox and molds on his desk in his office, looks a little nicer than plastic container :-). This stuff is really fun!
Charlene says
Sophie my math might be wrong but even with your lower price of $17.99- that would be $10.79 for 2 lbs. So that is still more then Amazon. I do think Michael’s and Amazon probably have the better quality stuff. 🙂 The kids kept getting upset with me today because I kept squishing when they were trying to play- it is hard to resist.
Elizabeth says
I got some for my son’s birthday at Brookstone. $20 for 2 lbs. but they had a BOGO 1/2 off sale, so I got the sand box to go with it for $10 instead of $20. Not the cheapest, but it was in stock and I hope high quality! Does anyone know if the quality can vary? I figured we could use any molds we wanted. 🙂
It is pretty awesome stuff! I was telling a friend about it last night and saying that I’ll probably be playing with it too. hehe
Sophie says
Yes, amazon is still cheaper. I meant to say cheapest price I have seen at Michaels so far. My kids havent played with it yet as its a bday present but hopefully this keeps them entertained for a while on rainy summer days.
Robin says
The amazon price is going up.
Charlene says
Elizabeth I think you are probably good with Brookstone. I personally thought the Sand’s Alive sample out at Joann’s wasn’t as nice. The Sand’s Alive felt like something you could make with flour and baby oil. I also haven’t had as much luck with Cra-Z Art and Roseart in general with craft supplies but I haven’t tried the product. 🙂
Rie says
I just bought the Target cra-z-sand and I was so happy that they had it in stock that I didn’t even bother to look at the sand size. I found out later and was disappointed that each box only came with 1.5 lbs of sand. So this deal comes out to $9/lb. not a good deal. Amazon it is at it’s current price of $52.81/11 lbs!
Charlene says
Rie- I personally don’t find Cra-z art to make good products either. I couldn’t find on the box where it said the weight.
Elizabeth says
This article is unclear. Amazon does not make sand. So what brand are you saying is best?
Karsen Caruthers says
I agree, not as clear as I would like regarding brand, also no answe to your questionr for almost a year. I read it as an endorsement of Kinetic Sand on Amazon. Answer, Charlene? Helpful info but an update would be great, please.
Charlene says
Karsen- this is the link in the post for the brand that Amazon has:
http://www.amazon.com/Waba-Fun-Kinetic-Sand-Lbs/dp/B00FFD3P4A/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&keywords=sand&linkCode=ur2&qid=1402021544&s=toys-and-games&sr=1-10&tag=myfrugadve-20&linkId=HZIIS5WRYJJSOFPC
The Kinetic sand post is from 2014 so unfortunately I don’t really remember the details of playing with each brand. I have to just go by what it is I said in the post as that was three years ago when we were actually playing with the different products.
Sorry that isn’t more helpful-