Join Oogly at Sand in the City KC This Weekend

This weekend at Wonderscope Children's Musuem of Kansas City promises to be a wild, fun, competitive adventure with a bunch of sand thrown in. So much sand, in fact, that Kaw Valley Sand and Gravel, the sponsor donating the sand, has already started trucking it in for the teams that will be competing in the first annual Sand in the City KC sand sculpture contest. I talked to Barb Prater, board member at Wonderscope and the chair for the event, to get the scoop on the contest and the preparations they’ve been doing to make this event an entertaining occasion for the whole family.

Oogly is super excited to be part of the 1st Annual Sand in the City KC!

For Barb and the team at Wonderscope, Sand in the City KC has been over two years in the making. On Friday, eleven corporate teams will be participating, building sand sculptures with 5 tons of sand each. The teams have been planning for two months – developing their ideas into sandy reality little by little. Friday morning – all the planning comes together in 6 hours of sand sculpting in the parking lot at Wonderscope in Shawnee, KS. (This part of the event is not open to the public.)

I’ve heard rumors of Stars Wars characters, KU Jayhawks and a taco-based concept whose back story is being developed on Facebook by the team from Reactors Video. It seems sand, water and a little imagination go a long way when you let the design teams loose from various companies and organizations around town. We all still have those lingering impulses to play and build in the dirt – no surprise to us!

Ooglys are looking forward to playing in the sand too...

The process the groups will be using to build their sculptures is complex – you can read more about it in this article from the Kansas City Star. Barb told me that each team will have 2 hours to prepare their site before the actual sculpting begins and then they can have up to 12 people working in the site at any given time.

Silly me, I asked if time would be a factor… The answer is “Yes!” Sculpting five tons of clay into an award-winning design will be a tremendous group effort with team members rotating in and out throughout the day and hosts from Wonderscope assisting throughout the event.

You can come and make ooglys at Sand in the City on Saturday, May 21st.

How can your family participate? Stop by Wonderscope on Saturday and Sunday and see the sculptures. The museum is located at 5700 King in Shawnee, KS, just off Johnson Drive in downtown Shawnee. You’ll be able to vote for your favorite in the People’s Choice Award or your family can get in on the action building sand castles in the large sand pile provided for the public. Wonderscope will provide the sand, water and carving tools – just bring your imagination! Or watch as master sculptors demonstrate their skill throughout the weekend.

We’ll be there Saturday, May 21^st, with Oogly Kits and plenty of clay providing hands-on opportunities for kids to play with clay and make ooglys. We'll also have kits for sale. They make great birthday gifts, graduation gifts, even a fun and creative gift for Father's Day. 15% of our sales will be donated to Wonderscope to help with ongoing programming like Dr. Frequency’s Astounding Sounds – the exhibit that just opened for the summer at Wonderscope. 

15% of Oogly Kit sales will be donated to Wonderscope Children's Museum.

If you’ve never visited Wonderscope, you should take a trip to downtown Shawnee and check it out. In addition to all the sand activities, several musical groups will be performing including three Wonderscope regulars – Funky Mama, Jim Cosgrove aka “Mr. Stinky Feet” and Dino O’Dell plus a band of rock n' roll Dads performing at Wonderscope for the first time – The DooDads.

We’re excited to be a part of the fun and hope to see all of you there supporting the museum and the teams that have been hard at work building their sand creations. The event is free and open to the public form 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, May 21 and from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 22. 

If you can’t make it this weekend, be sure to stop by Wonderscope this summer – it’s a great destination for kids, parents and grandparents to explore, learn and play together.