Toys of the Seventies, Silly Sand

I also have toy pages for the 80s and 90s.

Picture Gallery

Loading images, if this message doesn't go away you may need to enable javascript in order to see pictures
No images

No pictures available yet!

 Submit a picture 

Description
was a sand that you put into water and you could make things but when you took the sand out of the water it was totally dry.
Links for more info

The following are links about Silly Sand you may find interesting. Also check out the other pages.

  • No links have been submitted for this page yet.

Submit a link to more information about Silly Sand

User Stories and Comments

The following are comments left about Silly Sand from site visitors such as yourself. They are not spell checked or reviewed for accuracy.

Catherine - December 06, 2008 - Report this comment
This was one of my favorites. Then one day I came home and one of my parent's friends kids had gotten a hold of it and "sprayed" the bathroom with silly sand, I was so pissed. But really the only thing you could build was little mountains, maybe I just wasn't that creative with it. It's the simple stuff we all remember though isn't it?
Vicky - December 13, 2008 - Report this comment
i Loved silly sand it was one of my favorite gift's i got as a child. If i could ever find it again i would buy it just to mess with and bring back good memories.
Betty - January 13, 2009 - Report this comment
I remember playing with this in my Grandparents restaurant as a small child. I have discovered it was first made in in 1966. The kind I remember you mixed in a bottle with water then dripped it creating sand castles and such.
VICKY - February 24, 2009 - Report this comment
Its still around, i think called "Magic Sand " now my son has some but its a messy toy to clean up & try to put back in the bottle without the water..
Juli - June 01, 2009 - Report this comment
I remember it like Betty does...it was bottles that you "dripped" and pretty much all you could make was mountains or small castles. It came with a special round tray that had some kind of paper on it (I think it absorbed the extra water) I think it came with several bottles and you could have a few different colors?
vato - June 04, 2009 - Report this comment
hiiii
TJ - July 14, 2009 - Report this comment
I LOVED this stuff! It had a very distinctive smell to it also (which I loved)! LOL!
cheryl - January 22, 2010 - Report this comment
I had silly sand around 64 or 65 I remember it has something like a spool of paper and you dripped the sand mixture onto the paper.I may still have it in my mothers attic we are in the process of cleaning it out if I find it maybe I will post a picture.
Mina - August 02, 2010 - Report this comment
I love silly sand but is that still what it's called know if not someone's idea was ripped off.
Jeanne - November 19, 2010 - Report this comment
Sorry...the description is incorrect. It was not sand that you put in water (that is what "Magic Sand" is. Silly Sand was way better. You mixed it with water in a plastic bottle and then squeezed it onto a platform that was made of sort-of rolled up paper. Then it dried in the form you squeezed it into. Then, you could just knock the form down and you would have dry sand again so you could start all over.
Tami - December 17, 2010 - Report this comment
Yes! Jeanne described it perfectly....a bottle of wet sand you dripped on this rolled up thjing and made whatever you wanted....why was it so cool? Who knows but I remember being so excited that Christmas in the late 60's, Thanks for the memories!
mike - December 24, 2010 - Report this comment
Hi all love that silly sand. had one back in the day alot of fun...I am looking to buy one. if any one as one for sale.let me know (mchl_wolter@yahoo.com) would love my grandkids have some fun like we did when we was kids. thanx
Spark5652 - February 15, 2011 - Report this comment
I'm Selling this on Ebay NOW. Auction ends around noon 2/16/2011.(TOMMORROW)
Kevin - September 20, 2011 - Report this comment
I can't believe so many others have such fond memories of silly sand! I would really like to find a set for sale. If anyone has one they would be willing to part with please contact me. nuckev@aol.com
Jesse - August 04, 2012 - Report this comment
One year on the San Juan river, all the sandy beaches were acting just like silly sand. You could build all sorts of towers and even arches in it, and they'd stay up. But it was just that one year on that one river. I've never seen any other sand out in nature that acted like that.
shari - March 07, 2013 - Report this comment
I did a web search for silly sand and saw all the comments from other people. By far one of my best memories of childhood. They should make it again. I'm 50 but id buy it. And id play with it
Debbie Morse - April 01, 2013 - Report this comment
I loved silly sand,I would love to own one again, I am also in my 50's but would buy it for myself, and all my grandchildren. It was a way for children to be creative,think,have fun when we were alone...I did not want anyone to wreck my castle !!:)
Lisa - October 07, 2013 - Report this comment
My sister and I loved silly sand and would buy it again in a minute if we could, just for the memories!
Michelle - April 14, 2014 - Report this comment
I got Silly Sand for Christmas in 1970, one of the all-time best Christmases...btw...never forgot that toy and so glad others remember it too!
Anne J. F. - May 19, 2014 - Report this comment
Loved it Loved it!!! Our mom was not in to messes:( But we did get to play with Silly Sand in the kitchen:) I saw aqua sand and the memories came flooding in:)
Joi A.T. - January 21, 2015 - Report this comment
Silly sand was the absolute best! Where can I find it now?
Rob Lambert - January 21, 2015 - Report this comment
A smaller toy manufacturer named Funtastic sold Silly Sand sets. A copyright of 1965 was printed on box. Inside was the base tray with round water pit in middle. Three packets of colored sand, a teaspoon and eye dropper for applying water. Wham-O and other toymakers quickly made copycats with different names. The original, to my knowledge, has been out of production since 1973. There are some modern-day forms of the product available today, under different names.
Rob Lambert - January 22, 2015 - Report this comment
The 1970 Sears Wishbook lists the Silly Sand set for two dollars. Includes the "Silly Circle." An igloo and castle are pictured, along with the original 1965 box.
jp weber - January 27, 2015 - Report this comment
when i was kid my famly new on of the investors in silly sand his naw was james dyer looking for him or one of his 6 kids
Tracy - February 04, 2015 - Report this comment
I loved silly sand. I have been trying to buy it and can't find it
Lesley B - January 09, 2016 - Report this comment
I loved Silly Sand! I remember getting it for Christmas one year and I was so excited. The pictures on the front were so incredible, but it was really impossible to duplicate any of them! Still I loved that sand!
70's kid - February 16, 2016 - Report this comment
Can't believe I found Silly Sand. I've been searching for this as it was my favorite childhood toy! This and Fuzzy Felt Hosspital!
Lindsay J - April 15, 2016 - Report this comment
My grandfather James dyer invented silly sand. He is amazed by all these comments! You all just made his day!
Dee - August 08, 2016 - Report this comment
I loved silly sand... My grandfather was an artist and he would let me create w Silly Sand while he painted. I treasure those memories!! Thank you James Dyer!
Liz Morris - November 10, 2016 - Report this comment
One of the very few memories I have when we lived at my grandparents house when we had a fire in ours. I got it for Christmas and I loved the texture of the wet sand so much! I Googled Silly Sand today hoping to get some for the nursery at my church. State park in Florida Keys had the same amazing sand!

Submit a story or info about Silly Sand