A Morning of Fun with Kanten Clay! (sponsored review and giveaway)

I love letting Kenan try all kinds of craft work (despite how uncreative a mommy I am!) and a few weeks ago, I was still thinking if there's an alternative to playdough that I can get for my boy (coz I'm not sure if playdoh is toxic-free). Someone out there must have read my mind because Sophie & Friends has just sent me two jars of Kanten Clay!

Kenan Plays Kanten Clay

We started out with making a butterfly. The little boy helped with making/moulding the parts, then he put the final touches on it.

The Kanten Clay is very malleable and it has a springy, bouncy feel to it. At one point, we were making clay balls and the little boy started throwing them off his highchair and they bounced - it tickled him and made him laughed!

Next, we made some shapes by using cookie cutters...

...and decorated his hippo friend with a clay flower!

The last activity was the one Kenan had the most fun. We made a bowl of dessert - pink chendol with blue jelly balls, for the hungry hippo. Kenan got to feed his friend and he had tonnes of fun doing that!

Just two small jars of clay and some dose of imagination, makes Kenan so happy - see the joy on his face!

 

About Kanten Clay

Kanten Clay Studio is an all natural Japanese modelling clay. It's made from kanten - or commonly known as agar-agar, natural food colouring and brine. Because of its natural ingredients, it's totally safe with young children (even if accidentally consumed). In fact, the salty brine is supposed to make children instinctively spit the clay out if they happen to put it into their mouths (this mommy tested it out and it's really salty - not nice to eat at all!). The clay is also a patented product that conforms to European EN-71 safety standards. You can read about EN-71 here and here.

The clay is oil-free and residue-free so it doesn't leave any stains on play surfaces. The clay retains water well so it can be played for a long time without turning dry or hard easily. If it does turn dry, just wrap it in a moist towel overnight and the texture will be restored.

One interesting fact about the Kanten Clay: It is supposed to be handmade by a "quiet little maestro in Japan, who has preserved his clay-making secret zealously for years". To maintain the highest quality, the clays are produced in limited quantities every month.

Kanten Clay can be purchased in jars of seven individual colours - white, red, yellow, blue, pink, orange and green, or in a four-colour set of white, blue, red and yellow. You can also mix them up to produce more colours e.g. blue + red = purple, orange + white = peach etc.


What I like most about Kanten Clay:

• Made with natural ingredients and safe with young children
• No weird chemical smell
• Not very sticky on hands; whatever stickiness there was, we could wash it off easily with soap and water. It's the same with the highchair - cleans easily with water and soap; totally fuss-free
• No complains from Kenan - he doesn't like getting his hands dirty but surprisingly, the slight stickiness of the clay didn't bother him at all! (unlike the times when his hands got dirtied from paint, where he would ask me to clean his hands and after that, he won't want to continue with the art work anymore)
• Nice packaging, easy to store
• Healthy fun that encourages creativity 

By the way, Kanten Clay is recommended for children two years old and above. Even though Kenan is 17 months, I feel safe letting him play with it. The thing is that at this very young age, he doesn't know how to create things out of the clay, so it requires lots of participation on my part.

I did, however, raised a concern about the clay. I was worried about the potential of it being contaminated with radioactive materials due to the Fukushima nuclear leakage. The company informed me that what they have in inventory is an old batch shipped in August last year and the clay is manufactured in Aichi perfecture, which is about 600-km away from Fukushima. So there's little cause for worry.

Kanten Clay can be purchased at Greenberry Loft at Liang Court and from Mums & Babes at United Square (I might just go stock up on the other five colours now!). Of course, the clay can also be bought from Sophie & Friends online store.

KANTEN CLAY GIVEAWAY
Here's your chance to win Kanten Clay!
To take part, simply leave a comment here, including the phrase "I want to try Kanten Clay!"
Please note that this giveaway is limited to readers residing in Singapore only.
Giveaway ends this Saturday, 2 July @ 12 noon