Moon Sand Candy Factory review

We love Moon Sand here at The Madhouse. (Or Moonie Sand as Juliette calls it. I'll explain to her one day why that always cracks me up !) As we haven't got a garden, only a patio, I love any toys that can help bring the outdoors inside so Moon Sand is a great alternative to a sandpit. We already owned the Sandcastle playset, then we were sent the Moon Sand Ice Cream set to review a while back, and more recently, this Moon Sand Candy Factory.

The set contains a candy press, 10 moulds, a tiny measuring cup & 2 colours of Moon Sand. They also say that there's a "sand box for contained play and storage". Now, for the play part, I totally agree. It pulls out into a fabulous candy store mock-up that you can fill up with your lovingly prepared Moon Sand delicacies, as you can see in this picture.

However, for the storage part, I'm having a mummy-fail moment and can find absolutely no way to get it all back in the box with the lid shut ! Now I know it all came out of there so it must all fit back in but I can't manage. It now has a huge elastic band holding it shut (sort of !). I would assume I need to take the candy press totally apart but as the girls have been playing with it non-stop ever since I got it out, I don't want to do that at the moment. I'll have a look around online to see if I can see a picture of how to fit it all back in the box so that it closes !

The girls have been having great fun making tiny intricate Moon Sand chocolates. I'm slightly concerned that the candy press won't last much longer though. After a few days of pretty intense but not overly rough-and-tumble play, it made a horrible crunch noise yesterday and this morning had stopped turning. I had a good wiggle and managed to sort of repair it so that it turns a little with the lever then you can push it round manually to the next press with your finger. It's not as good as it was, according to Sophie, but it's better than nothing ! My advice is therefore to go carefully with the press and supervise it closely, at least for the first few times until they've got the hang of it.

I've always been impressed with the "never dries out" aspect of Moon Sand, which means that you can use it over and over again without ever having to add water (in fact you mustn't or you'll wreck it). However, reading on the box, I discovered that if you're particularly impressed with your Moon Sand creations, you can bake them in the oven so that, once they've cooled, they'll go hard and you can paint them. At the moment, this doesn't interest the girls because they just want to keep making more and more choclates using the press but eventually, when the novelty wears off (or when all the colours have mixed together), it adds a whole new dimension to the toy. This two in one aspect makes it great value for money.

Another interesting fact I learnt from reading on the back of the box - if your Moon Sand ends up sticking in the moulds and being really hard to get out, it's due to oils in the sand being left on the moulds and making it stick. Wash them carefully, dry them and hey presto, it'll stop sticking. Maybe I should carefully read all the information on the back of toy boxes more frequently !

star rating : 4/5

RRP : £14.99

for more information : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Moon-Sand-Delights-Factory-Playset/dp/B004JZZVG0

Other reviews you may be interested in :

My Little Sandbox

Moon Dough Bunnies review

Moon Sand Ice Cream set