PeekaGreen.com sent me this box of awesome HappyMais for my kids to try out.

HappyMais building blocks are made by Ecotoys in Italy and sold through PeekaGreen.com. The building blocks are made from Mater-Bi, a GM-free certified cornstarch dyed with non-toxic food coloring.

Building blocks made from cornstarch, how cool is that?

My kids had a blast playing with these colorful cornstarch pieces. They are essentially just like the cornstarch packing peanuts only brightly colored and in various sizes and shapes.

The kit comes with over 700 pieces, a sponge to get the pieces wet, a mater-bi knife to safely cut the pieces, and a sheet of cardboard cutouts to make little creatures and other designs.

And you don’t need any glue or paint or anything. Everything you need except the water comes in the box. Then you just get the pieces slightly wet and they’ll stick together and can be moulded and shaped. Just don’t get them too wet or they will disintegrate into nothing.

Here’s a photo of just a few of the creations my kids made. I can see HappyMais being a great craft kit to have for a birthday party project or just something to keep kids busy during sleepovers or whatever.

And it’s eco-friendly and not messy at all. I think that’s one of the best parts, no mess to clean up afterward. So many craft projects can leave behind smeared paint, piles of glitter and scraps of whatever, but not HappyMais. It was a quick cleanup, just throw leftover pieces back in the box.

[This post was written by Wenona Napolitano.]