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Building sandcastles and snow forts are one of the rights of passage of childhood. I have so many vivid favorite memories of playing in the sand and snow with my sister and brother while we were growing up.
How is it possible to make playing in the sand and snow even more fun and educational? Cue Color My Worlds. They have created coloring kits you can take along on a beach trip or in the snow to add color to your sculpted masterpieces!
We took our Color My Worlds kit with us on our last trip to the beach at our local lake. It was a huge hit with the whole family! Now this kit will be a staple along with our buckets and shovels in my beach bag.
The kids had fun adding the color tablets to the water bottles and watching it change color and fizz.
The kit only comes with primary color tablets, so when my son wanted green we added one yellow and one blue tablet to make green. It was fun, and a great learning experience, for them to pick a color and learn about the primary color combinations needed to make it.
Then we got to work building sand castles. The plastic case that the Color My Worlds kit comes in can be used as a brick mold. Our sand wasn’t wet enough for a brick that big so ours crumbled a bit when we tried to use the mold. I could see how it would work well in really wet sand or snow.
The kit also comes with instructions on how to build several interesting shapes (such as a dragon, snake and robot) using the brick molds. We loved the ideas from the instructions, so I helped my kids make a sea turtle and a star fish.
After we built several shapes we colored them with our squirt bottles. The kids loved getting to spray the sand and see it change color.
My daughter colored herself (and me) as much as the sand. But I am happy to report that it washed off very easily with just a rinse under the water, so no worries if your kids spray themselves with the color. It’s good to know that the colors are washable, non-toxic and eco-friendly.
I love that this is a “no mess” way for kids to play with color. Ok, I know that it is actually messy, but they play with it outside, in places they are going to get messy in anyway. After a day playing in sand or snow you need a good rinse before coming inside. If any of the color did get squirted on the kids it will wash off easily and quickly with the sand and snow before coming in the house.
You might be thinking this sounds awesome and fun, but is this an educational toy and how does it ties into STEAM? Well, building the sand and snow sculptures gives kids an introduction to 3-dimensional play and thinking (and important foundation for engineering education).
When they play with colors it is adding the Arts from STEAM into their play. They are learning the three primary colors of yellow, blue and red, and how to combine them to make secondary colors. This also involves math, because they will be counting and adding as they put the color tablets into the water bottles.
Color My Worlds is a creative and fun way to add STEAM play into your everyday activities. We really enjoyed it, and I plan to take this kit to all our beach trips form now on.
We don’t get much (if any) snow here in Houston, but there is usually snow in New Mexico when we go to visit our families for the holidays. I plan to bring this along when we go to New Mexico this winter so my kids can have fun coloring the snow!
What do you think of Color My Worlds? Is this a STEAM toy you’d like to try with your kids? If so, I have great news for you. Color My Worlds graciously gave me an extra kit to giveaway! All you have to do is head on over to my Instagram account (@engineering_emily) and go to my latest post to find out how to enter to win! Good luck!
What are you waiting for, go enter!
If you missed the giveaway or don’t have an Instagram account you can find more information about Color My Worlds on their website and for sale on Amazon using my affiliate link below.
