Did you know that August 11th is Play In The Sand Day? What better time to explore with sand! Sand is an excellent tool that offers children hours of fun and learning.
You don’t need to go to the beach to explore the sand, you can have your own sandbox at home, go to the park, or just use a bin of sand, which can be used indoors, or out. Include a variety of props; funnels, cardboard tubes, sifts, plastic bottles, scoops, measuring cups, spoons, bottle caps, and small rakes or forks to increase learning and fun.
Children learn through play, and sand is no different. While playing with sand you give children the freedom to explore, create, and ask questions. Here are some ways children benefit from playing with sand and the skills they can develop and practice:
- Development of fine motor skills
- Hand & eye coordination – watching and doing and coordinating these actions
- Promotes creativity and imagination – using wet sand to mould sand into different shapes and objects, use coloured sand to make patterns, or use a fork, small rake or pencil to draw designs in the sand
- Sensory- development of the sense of touch through feeling and manipulating objects and moulding the sand. Try different types of sand; dry sand, wet sand, moon sand, sand foam, etc.
- Socialization – children love sand so it creates a great gathering place that encourages children to communicate, work together, share, be creative and witness other children being creative
- Language development – playing with sand is a social activity requiring speaking and listening, which helps develop vocabulary
- Overcoming challenges – problem solving
5 Sensational Sand Play Activities:
- Sand Sensory Bin: Create your own portable sandbox that can be used indoors or outdoors. All you need is a large shallow bin and sand. Include a variety of props; funnels, cardboard tubes, sifts, plastic bottles, scoops, measuring cups, spoons, bottle caps, small toys and small rakes or forks
- Sand Foam: Sand Foam is perfect for sensory exploration. It is made up using only two ingredients; just combine 3 cups of sand and shaving cream. Keep adding shaving cream until you reach desired consistency
- Sand Drawings: Drawing with sand is so much fun. Fill squeeze bottles with coloured sand, set up an outdoor canvas and let children create a design by squeezing the sand out
- Sand Writing: Practice and enhance language skills with some sand writing. Spread a layer of sand on a flat surface and ask children to write letter, numbers or words
- Construction Zone: Fill a shallow bucket with sand, rocks and small trucks/bulldozer toys
Sand is the perfect play recipe for kids with endless fun and exploration.