Friday, 24 November 2017

3rd Birthday Gift Guide and Giveaway - Sands Alive by John Adams

Its day 5 of Lily's Birthday Gift Guide and Giveaway. Today I am reviewing the wonderful Sands Alive by John Adams. 

Also to celebrate Lily's Birthday John adams have kindly let me give away a Paw Patrol Felts set. You can enter for that at the bottom of this review. 

But first let me tell you all about the Sands Alive Set we were sent!


We were sent the sweet treats version of the sands alive. I had tried it out a little at the Blog On convention and so couldn't wait to give it a real go.

Lily was really excited when I told her it was called sands alive. She loves playing in the sand and is currently very disappointed that she can't go out and play with her sand pit. I wrapped it up for her birthday and she was delighted to see sand. So if your child loves playing in sand, then it really does make the perfect gift.

Sands alive is just like sand but with a difference. Instead of being really dry and only clumping toggether when wet, the sands alive is actually a super soft modelling material. It looks just like sand, but it feels a little bit like a mixture of sand and play dough. It's soft and stretchy and you can mould it together to make things. I hate the feeling of sand usually, but I didn't actually mind this and preferred the feeling of it.




The idea behind it is that it lets children make things like sand castles all year around and with a lot less mess.

This set came with a bag of sand, 2 Ice cream cones, 2 cup cake moulds, a ice cream top mould, a scoop and 2 cake shaped moulds. It all comes in a handy little tray that you can play in.

The moulds are all really colourful and also full of detail so then when you make your sweet treats they look like the real deal. They are also of a really decent size so you can make decent sized sand treats.




Lily got to playing with this straight away. She used the scoop to get the sand and started to fill an ice cream cone with it. You can squash quite a bit of sand into them and it is just like making a sand castle. Lily would fill up the mould, flatten it down with the scoop and then turn it out onto the sand. Then hit the scoop on the top a few times and lift. The moulds worked brilliantly and you were left with a really nicely shaped treat which didn't crumble at all. Lily was really impressed and she made quite a few and between us we made all sorts.

This toy is really good for sensory play as you are using your hands lots to touch the sand, but it also good for gross motor skills as your child practices scooping and filling the moulds.

Lily loved this toy so much that she has been asking for it every day and it has really been keeping her occupied. I do think it really is a great idea to be able to bring sand play inside the house with out all the mess.









But when I say without the mess, I would admit that this toy isn't compleatly mess free and it does need some parental supervision.

I did find that little bits of it did get everywhere, and while it was really easy to clean up from a table, it wasn't from a carpet. On the table you simply get some more of the sand and roll it over the other sand and it picks it up. But I did find that if any fell onto the carpet you had to be really careful for it not to get smeared into it. Not easy when you have a child who won't stay still and decides to rub the bits that had fallen onto her top onto the floor and then stand in it.

But I did manage to get it out the carpet with a bit of hardcore hoovering. I then bought a plastic matt to put under her table and so if you have carpets, I would really recommend getting one of those.


But apart from the slight mess left on my carpet, I thought that this toy was wonderful and Lily really loves it.

After you have finished playing with the sand, scoop it back into the bag it came in and pop it back into the box. The sand is made so then it doesn't dry out. Which I think is great!

You can head to the John Adams website to see more about Sands Alive and also check out there other sets. 

What would your child enjoy about Sands Alive?

Now onto the competition. John Adams have kindly let me give away a Paw Patrol Felt Set, Enter on the Gleam app below for your chance to WIN! 

*Ends 14/12/17*

Win a Paw Patrol Felt Set

94 comments:

  1. Fantastic great for the kids x

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  2. Massive fans here
    Great for learning through fun play

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  3. The Sands Alive looks great and I know my daughter will love it because she takes after me for her love of arty and creative activities!! She is a huge Paw Patrol fan too!

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  4. not payed Sands Alive, our little Grandson adores Paw Patrol, he loves Marshall, Chase and Rocky!

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  5. Looks great my kids love paw patrol they'd love this

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  6. Sands Alive looks like great fun and yes, we're big Paw Patrol fans.

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  7. My nephew loves Sands alive, he tries to make cookies and cakes and we have to pretend to nibble lol. He is also a big paw patrol fan too!

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  8. Looks great for our Paw Patrol fans

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  9. Sands Alive looks good. Paws Patrol loved, as dogs etc. Certainly have a good number of ideas for Christmas gifts for the children.

    Rachel Craig

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  10. It looks fun. My nephews love Paw Patrol

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  11. my granddaughter loves playing with sand, we even put glitter in hers!

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  12. My daughter loves Paw Patrol, especially the girls - Skye and Everest.

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  13. My kids love paw patrol, now its autumn they cannot play in the sandpit so something like this makes a great substitute

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  14. sands alive looks like fun and yes my son loves marshall from paw patrol x

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  15. that would keep my niece entertained for awhile

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  16. the sands alive looks great, looks slightly easier to play with than kinetic sand. My 3 year old loves paw patrol,especially Rubble and her 32 year old mother used to LOVE fuzzy felt as a kid so put them together and its perfect!

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  17. Sands Alive looks so much fun! My niece is a huge Paw Patrol fan

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  18. I don't have any children but would love to win this prize for charity, to go to Romania.

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  19. Sands alive looks great. My nephew loves paw oatrol

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  20. This looks great fun for kids to play with. Paw Patrol is a great hit in our house

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  21. Wonderful giveaway! Have a happy birthday sweet girl!

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  22. sounds lovely but i couldn't see the giveaway? Janie-Fleur Matcham pinkjj27

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  23. Paw Patrol fans here. This looks great fun to play with.
    happy birthday

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  24. massive fans, my twin nieces would love this prize

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  25. My boy is 2 and a half but he's terrible at putting things in his mouth so I'm not sure if the sand would be a good idea for him right now but he loves Paw Patrol!

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  26. FANTASTIC CHILDREN SHOULD PLAY -- THEY LOVE PAW PATROL

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  27. i think it looks great my nephews all love paw patrol!

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  28. My niece, Emily loves Paw Patrol and being creative!

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  29. My youngest daughter Poppy's therapist has encouraged lots of sensory play, so this would be ideal for her. She also loves Paw Patrol

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  30. My little boy loves paw patrol and loves paw patrol toys so would love this. Sand looks great fun and good it comes with a tray to keep it all together

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  31. She is, and we think its fab, thank you...

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  32. Sands alive looks fun! And yes, my son adores paw patrol- Sky is his favourite pup at the moment :)

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  33. This looks like great fun! My daughter is a huge Paw Patrol fan, she likes Zoomer best :)

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  34. Such a great idea...and not too messy!!! My kids love Paw Patrol!

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  35. What a brilliant sensory toy, my son would get a lot out of playing with this. My son likes Paw Patrol.

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  36. my little one absolutely adores paw patrol

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  37. Sands Alive looks like lots of fun. My nephews are huge Paw Patrol fans.

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  38. Claire Elizabeth Noke26 November 2017 at 22:37

    My little brother loves Paw patrol and crazy sand, so definitely entering the sand giveaway and this fuzzy felt one :) thanks for the chance!

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  39. Yes my daughter loves Paw Patrol

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  40. This would be great for a rainy day. My little boy loves Paw Patrol and has asked Santa for a Skye toy

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  41. Sands Alive looks like a really good educational toy that is lots of fun and will keep my Grandaughter occupied for ages. I would take notice of your comments about the carpet, thanks. My Granddaughter loves Paw Patrol (as do I if the truth be known!)

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  42. Sands Alive looks good fun and my grandson is a big Paw Patrol fan.

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  43. Only my older daughter has played with Sands Alive and she loves it. She's not a great fan of Paw Patrol but only because her 4 year old brother and sister are totally obsessed and want to watch it 24/7.

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  44. My nephew Jack is a massive Paw Patrol fan.

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  45. Love the look of this sand. My son loves Paw Patrol

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  46. With twin grand-children (a boy and a girl) this looks like a great activity that they would enjoy playing with together and they both love Paw Patrol

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  47. Sharon Marie Wormald28 November 2017 at 19:47

    Cant believe they do fuzzy felt Paw Patrol!My grandsons love them wow!

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  48. Like the look of the sand set, my boys love messy play & they love paw patrol too!

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  49. Happy Birthday to your sweet girl! I wish my 2 little girls could play this with your little girl. They love ice cream, and don't have anything like this! They would love it!

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  50. My little girls also LOVE Paw Patrol! They're favorites are Marshall and Chase!

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  51. My Grandson never tires of playing with sand, so Sands Alive would be perfect for him. He has his whole room decorated with Paw Patrol, including his bed, his bedding, curtains etc.

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  52. I think it looks like great fun, Megan would absolutely love it, she has asked for it when it's been advertised, she also loves paw patrol her favourite are Skye and Everest xx

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  53. My daughter loves paw patrol and she love playing with the sand

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  54. My daughter love paw patrol Skye her fav

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  55. She also loves playing with sand she has the paw patrol sand we haven't tried sand alive yet though looks fun

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  56. Big paw patrol fan and she loves sand, not tried this yet tho xx

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  57. Massive fan great for learning

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  58. The youngest enjoys Paw Patrol. This game is a much cleaner version of an outdoor sandpit so gets the thumbs up from us.

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  59. This sand alive looks fun and they are fans of paw patrol at the minute.

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  60. Looks awesome, my little one loves paw patrol

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  61. My son loves Paw Patrol and both he and I think the Sands Alive looks really fun

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  62. Sans Alove looks great fun, and my granddaughter is a big Paw Patrol fan.

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  63. Michelle Ferguson11 December 2017 at 19:35

    Sands alive looks great, would have lots of fun with my nephew

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  64. Looks great and yes big fan - Kate Holmes

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  65. My little granddaughter loves Paw Patrol and this looks like great fun to play with.

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  66. My youngest loves paw patrol

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  67. My son loves Paw Patrol and would love Sands alive

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  68. my nephew would love sands alive

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  69. My granddaughter would love Sands Alive but she would make too much mess indoors. Definitely get her some when she is older.

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  70. My grandchildren love playing with sand and they are Paw Patrol fans too!

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  71. My son would love sand alive he loves watching paw patrol all the time

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  72. It looks like fun, and yes we are Paw Patrol fans in our house

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  73. Would love this for my daughter; she's a massive Paw Patrol fan.

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  74. sands alive looks great fun my daughter ava blossom loves paw patrol

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  75. My grandsons love Paw Patrol, I've even found myself humming the theme tune whilst stood in a supermarket queue, the Sands Alive looks something all my grandchildren would love

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  76. My daughter loves paw patrol,her favourite is Marshall. She loves the sand too,I wasn't impressed with her though.....she kept breaking my models!!!! x

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  77. Sands alive looks like a nice toy. My granddaughter loves Paw Patrol, her favourite character is Marshall. She has a stuffed toy Marshall with a uniform and enjoys dressing him and using him in role play games.

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  78. it looks good, my daughter loves paw patrol x

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  79. My niece is a big Paw Patrol fan and would love to try this out.

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  80. My girls are big Paw Patrol fans and they would love this :)

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  81. Sands alive looks great fun, we've tried something similar and enjoyed it. My kids love paw patrol, especially my 5 Yr old

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  82. Sands Alive would be fun for my niece who also loves playing Paw Patrol on the nickjr website.

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  83. sands alive looks great fun and my daughter loves paw patrol

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  84. Youngest grandson loves his sand alive, he also like paw patrol

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  85. Sands Alive looks great fun and my son LOVES Paw Patrol.

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  86. The set looks great. My daughter LOVES paw patrol

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  87. Mydaughter absolutely loves paw patrol :D fantastic prize :) xxxx

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  88. My nephew would love this as he is into Paw Patrol.

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  89. The Sands Alive looks like a great toy. I'm sure my granddaughter would enjoy it.

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