Customer Reviews

Be Amazing! Insta-Snow 1Lb Bag BMZSNO650

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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Who would have thought there was two types of "instant snow"? This stuff is manufactured by Dunecraft, and the other is manufactured by Steve Spangler Science. Is there a difference? You betcha! Although they are both superabsorbent polymers, they yield incredibly different results.

The Dunecraft version is the same powder found in disposable baby diapers. Sounds great - after all they swell up to a huge degree. Well, ya know how the diaper feels really squishy as you take it to the trash can? That's the polymer becoming the consistency of fine-grained tapioca pudding. The Dunecraft snow crystals swell to very large globules of trapped water - nothing like real snow. When you try to form a snowball, most of it sticks to your hands. In fact, you'll be picking these globules off your hands, arms and clothes for hours to come.

The Spangler version looks identical to Dunecraft in it's dry form. But when it's wet, it remains dry-feeling even though it's filled with water. The expanded crystals much more closely resemble flakes. The consistency is light and fluffy, yet you can still compress the stuff into a ball - just to a lesser degree as the ball will want to fall apart. Best of all - your hands will come away flake-free.

If my descriptions don't convince you, let's compare the formula for each vendor's snow, per their own instructions:

Dunecraft: "Mix 1/2 teaspoon Super Snow with 8 ounces of water"
Spangler: "Mix 1/2 teaspoon of Insta-Snow with 1 ounce of water"

Both products swell to 100 times their size, and will therefore end up filling the same volume. The container with the Dunecraft snow will weigh half a pound from all that water. The container with Spagler will weigh 1/8 as much (i.e. light and fluffy).

Let's also compare the instructions once the water is added...
Dunecraft: "Stir and continue to stir until snow forms. You must stir for at least 20-30 seconds to see the snow magically appear from the slush." That's straight from the bag. The "snow" they are referring to is a larger version of...slush.
And Spangler? Well, just Google Insta-Snow and you'll eventually find demonstration videos. You literally pour a tiny bit of water on a small mound of crystals and the snow appears in a second or two. You CAN stir for a more dramatic reaction, but you don't need to.

I'm not a shill for Spangler. Both companies put out good products. The Dunecraft snow is a little cheaper than Spangler, but the difference is huge. Go with Insta-Snow - you won't regret it.

By the way, both products are re-usable; they return to a small crystal form when the water evaporates. The Dunecraft takes several WEEKS to do so at low humidity (after all it holds 8 times the water). The Spangler takes several days to fully dry. You will see the volume diminish every morning until there's just crystals. You will need to stir the Dunecraft version every day, as the top will form a hard shell trapping the moisture underneath. Once you stir it up, much of the slush will want to stick to your spoon. Kids may enjoy the Dunecraft version simply because it's messy and feels gross. Parent's will love the Spangler version because it's not. But I promise that kids will really get a kick out of seeing snow literally erupt from a pile of dust - that's the magic of Spangler. Remember, Dunecraft is exactly what you find in a disposable diaper - which wasn't designed to be re-used (believe me, I tried....but that's another story)

I am a photographer and we used Insta-Snow on a Christmas set. The amount we got made was a good amount of snow and it lasted for a couple days without trouble. When we were done, we just vacuumed up the snow. It was probably too dirty to try and re use.

I am an education supervisor in a preschool and we bought the insta snow for a school wide winter celebration. We filled a few large buckets with the snow and let the kids go crazy. There were over 100 kids playing with it for hours and the snow held up through all of it. The kids loved it and we will be ordering again for next year.

Buy the Steve Spangler version of Insta-Snow. That darn Dunecraft version of snow ruined my floor!!! I dropped some on the floor, and it literatly shattered! With Insta-Snow, there is no mixing needed, but with super snow, it reads, "Stir 20-30 seconds to make snow." All you get is a tired hand and a cup of diaper goo.

Not wanting our L.A. grandchildren to miss out on the snowy days our grandchildren back east were enjoying, we created a "Snowy Day in L.A." ! It's so easy to use and provided hours of fun for the children and for us. The photos we took were an additional bonus. An extremely worthwhile purchase. We immediately ordered 2 more pounds!

My class had an absolute blast with this. It's well worth the money and after we used it for a science experiment I still have more than 3/4 of the bag left over. I'm planning on using it at my wedding. We are not allowed to have candles at the reception so I'm buying flicker lights and putting them inside the snow.
The only downside to this stuff is that it is NOT reusable. It takes too long to evaporate, you're better off throwing it out. We did our experiments over a month ago and it's still sitting around my classroom.

Remember the first time you saw lemon juice mix with baking soda? Remember that "WOW!" feeling? This is better. Not only do you see and almost instantaneous reaction of the Insta-Snow you get to PLAY with it too!!!
Playing in snow in a nice warm classroom! I put a large plastic under our play area to catch any mess and the kids had a great time.
The 1lb bag was enough for my kids, my grandkids and the kids at school. Plus several teachers went home with a little for their kids!

Nifty stuff. Use it only in places that are easy to clean-up. We got it as a tactile therapy item for our autistic daughter. She likes it fine--it feels neat. It doesn't, however, come up from the carpet easily. On hard floors, it sweeps right up though.

Mixed this up Christmas Eve to add to the ambiance Christmas morning. Spread 2 cups (pre water) around the front porch and the next morning the children were amazed. Somewhat real looking even though it takes on a ball shape and won't clump like real snow(to be expected). Started to lose the whiteness factor by Noon on Christmas morning and turned into a gel mess by afternoon.

No water refreshes this stuff at least on outside pavers. It becomes incredibly slippery (even when fresh) to the extent that someone can get seriously injured. The postman even became worried and began to throw my mail on my front doorstep to avoid hurting herself. After three days of hoping this stuff would dry up which it never did - just a slippery pile of goo, I pulled out the hose and sprayed the gel into the yard.

Problem is that the gel super glued itself to the pavers. Tried a shovel - no luck. Tried an outdoor brush - better results but still a bunch of slippery gel mess in places. I let it sit for 15 mins after scrubbing and spraying and it finally scrubbed off with a ton of muscle and finger scratching. I just don't know how toxic that gel glob is that is now in 100 places all over my yard. Get this stuff on clothes or rugs - forget about it.

If you can put this snow gel into a controlled environment - aka tub - where it can not spill, this would be quite enjoyable. The problem is this stuff doesn't last long after water is added, won't refresh by adding more water, turns into a glob of semi transparent goo (aka super slippery and sticky) after 24 hours even after adding more water, and is IMPOSSIBLE to clean up. Keep this stuff to science class in a tub or other container and you should be fine. Don't expect it to last more than a few hours.

I came across this in a store in the mountains. Displayed in a big bowl with a big sign that said "TOUCH ME". I did, and then my daughter did, then I did again. This stuff is addictive. I purchased more for my grandson to play with. He carries the bowl around with him for hours at a time and asks for it when he gets up! Gave some to a friend for her son to play with. They had a blast!

I will say that after it starts to loose its water content, it changed color a little. When I added water again, it wasn't quite as fluffy. Beware, after it is played with for awhile, it gets a really bad "diaper" odor (I have been told that this is the same stuff that is used in diapers).

Still all in all, it is still a fun product.