Kinetic sand for a 2 year old ?

[Disneymagic321]

Is it better to stick to one colour ? Introducing my play doh loving toddler to kinetic sand (supervised ofc) , should I get lots of one colour or 2 colours ? Will 2 colours just blur into one weird colour ? Play doh eventually did get mixed around but not sure how kinetic will be to play with . I could put 2 colours in different trays ? Or only bring one colour out at a time if there’s enough of it ?

We love kinetic sand but it’s not mess free play

I don't understand the comments about mess at all.

Ds3 is 4 and loves it and it's pretty mess free. A quick hand-sweep of the table and a wipe then a mini sweep of the floor and its done - takes a minute. Far preferred to play doh and much less mess!

I would highly recommend only getting actual kinetic sand though. Ds has a proper one and then a couple of copy cat sets from B&m, Poundstretcher etc which are half the price - but you can really tell the difference in quality ime. It's worth paying the extra few quid for.

I don’t find it messy to clear up either because the whole point is that it sticks to itself as you clear it up into bigger and bigger lumps. And I say that as a mum of three who is reaaallly not keen on messy play. The only thing I’d advise is playing on a mat on the floor. At first we had it up on the table but so much fell on the floor and mixed with grime from the previous meal etc. that anything on the floor got wasted. Whereas if we started out on the floor on a mat it’s all still fairly usable when I clean up. If you’re going to stress about the colours getting mixed up then yes, stick to one colour as I can’t see how you would separate them. But if you don’t really care then they’ll get mixed up over time but it’s kind of fun for the kids to see that happen.

I am not getting all the comments about mess either. I love kinetic sand it's fantastic to play with doesn't dry out like play doh and it's way less messy than play doh!

We love it in our house. We have two colours on the go at the moment but they are in two separate trays. So far. I'll combine them as they get less and less.

The rule in our house is that if it goes on the floor, it goes in the bin. That helps them to try to keep in the trays. At the end of the play I just sweep up what's on the floor and put it in the bin, it's pretty easy. Not on carpet though - keep it off carpet.

We got the builder sets of kenetic sand from Santa and big and small DC loooove then. No mess here

Play doh is the devil’s work. Kinetic sand is way worse!

DD had some in purple - I still find it in the house ingrained in everything!!

Wow such a range of contrasting experiences 😭 one of you guys said it hoovers up so nicely whilst some are suggesting it takes hours and will clog the machine 😭 gosh, it seems it’s got to be one I just try out to judge if it works for us . We would definitely be on a mess mat and large try and I’ll be with her the whole time. And it seems one colour - natural - is the way to go. I just realised we were gifted a purple or blue pack, but it’s not massive and hopefully will buy the a large bag of natural colour sand myself . Does it stain hands ?

It doesn't stain. I have to say my kids would not be impressed with the natural colour! The lovely strong colours are part of the appeal.

We LOVE kinetic sand. We have blue, purple, green and natural. The rules are that we only play with it on the table and it must be on a tray (and we don't mix colours). I sweep under the table before we get it out so that if any falls on the floor it can just be picked up and put back in the bag. I also shut the baby gate to keep them in the kitchen with the rule that they don't leave until I've wiped their hands and feet, just in case they've managed to get any on them. It can be hoovered out of carpet but it's not the easiest.
The kids will play with it for literally hours at a time without getting bored and build castles and volcanos and all sorts.

Aw this sounds lovely @MrWhippyBloon thank you for the tips !

Thanks for confirming! @BabyInTheJungle and yes, I can see colours Would make it a bit more exciting 😊

@SheWoreYellow

Dries beans and rice are good too and a lot less messy. You can dye the rice pretty colours.

Six years on and I'm still cleaning up bloody rice from my living room. The Pinterest pictures of toddlers with funnels and cups playing nicely were LIES. My kid sprayed it everywhere in seconds and the "oh that's ok we will play the hoover gamenand clean it up" got old very quickly too. I realised that day that digging in the mud outside was enough sensory experience for my DC!