It turns out that understanding sounds and phonetics is actually more important for reading than simply learning the letters and the whole “A is for apple” thing.
The goal is to construct a circle with three things that rhyme. If it’s too hard at first, you can turn them over and peek at the colors on the back since each ring can only have one of each color.
I know it’s not kinetic sand, but it does come with multicolored blocks that can be stuck together in different ways. Activity cards help teach addition, subtraction, and all sorts of number skills.