I am a beach baby, and I come by it honestly. The day before I was born, my very pregnant mother spent the day at the shore, floating and paddling in salt water until the lifeguard asked her to come in, telling her, “Miss, please come back to the beach now. Your mother is worried, and frankly, so are we.”

My first word was “beach,” and while I did have blocks, and play with them at a young age, my first toy was sand, my first structure a castle that looked suspiciously like an inverted paper cup fashioned from wet sand, with a sea gull feather as a flag.

I don’t live near enough to a beach to indulge in making sand castles all that often, but part of me still has that urge, which is why I was interested to learn of moon sand.

Moon Sand is technicolored modeling sand, softer and less messy than clay, and not dependent on water to make it stick together the way beach sand is. It’s non-toxic, contains no peanuts or wheat products, and you can get a sample kit for less than $20 (tax and shipping not included).

The folks who make Moon Sand also have come really cool sand castle molds, and an inflatable sand box that can hold enough sand for an entire model of Carcassone, or merely accommodate a collection of small hands. Even better, it doesn’t absorb water, and it floats, so if you wanted to build a moat around your castle, you totally could.

I’m really excited about ordering some moon sand.
Sand castles, here I come!