Sand Provision

[Guest terrydoo73]

We are a 2 1/2 hour session Playgroup meeting from September to June and would you believe it I am already planning for next year! I want to look at all areas of our provision and see what we can do to enhance it. The reason - we have 8 children who were 3 this year (with us since September last) who will be coming back in September 2012 for their preschool year. We also will have a further 4 joining them each day who will be 3 years of age. It makes it difficult but we want to clearly see specific learning intentions and outcomes with a purpose while at the same time livening things up for those returning but at the same time being able to observe specific things! Confused you will be!!

 

Anyway the first on my list is the favourite - sand. It is the first tray as you come in our door and one which creates a lot of interest. Obviously I want to keep it dry for the first couple of months and then change it to wet for the months leading up to Christmas. Then we will have new stuff in January so it will be back to dry for a few more months before we change it back to wet again.

 

Initially I want to see the children explore the sand using their senses specifically touching. Then I want to see how they actually feel it - which hand used and if they mark it with their hands or fingers in any way.

 

My question is this - can I leave the sand tray in the beginning without any buckets, spades, rakes etc and just have say sieves and the wheel to see them actually handling it? I do have sand pens which I could put in there but is this sufficient for the first month?

 

Would anyone be interested in sharing with me how they plan this area in terms of resources?

[zigzag]

Our children will decide what they want in the sand, and most of the time it is not what we would have put in there!!. They will also add water to the sand if they decide they want wet sand. I personally would not be planning these activites and would be letting the children leed you. Just my thoughts.

[Guest terrydoo73]

So tell me how this works exactly - do you have all your resources available in a tray or shelf and just let them come and take what they want? How does that work say if you have wet sand and a child decides they want to use a sieve and obviously it doesn't go through?

[sunnyday]

So tell me how this works exactly - do you have all your resources available in a tray or shelf and just let them come and take what they want? How does that work say if you have wet sand and a child decides they want to use a sieve and obviously it doesn't go through?

 

Same as Zig-zag for us :1b

 

Wet sand and a sieve scenario - well what a great learning experience! :1b

[Guest]

I like to have a long term plan for sand, with a list of all the different things available. The member of staff who is in charge of that area for the week would either put out what she felt the children needed and would enjoy or would discuss with the children what they would like - depending on their age/stage. Certainly having only sieves and wheels is fine but I wouldn't be planning for more than a week ahead.

[zigzag]

Oh they do not restrict themselves to just sand toys!!! They are of course avaliable by the sand tray, but our kids love to transport anything from dinosaurs, cars, animals and tractors etc, etc to the sand tray. And these are the resources from the other side of the room. And thats what should be happening, you know then that the learning and enjoyment is child innitiated, an adults idea of what is fun and stimulating in the sand tray is sooooo different from the childrens. Also I would not be even thinking about planning details until I have met all my children (new and old) in September and finding out, observing where their interests lie and what the dynamics of the group are. Like I said these are just my thoughts and how I work.

[Guest terrydoo73]

Yes but what I am asking is what is avaliable by the sand tray to make it easy for them to choose what to play with? I know all about bringing things in from other areas and letting the children decide.

[Sox]

You should look at the foundation stage ni curriculum it has some good starting points! If you are interested let me know and I will send u a link

[Guest terrydoo73]

Please could you - I really am stumped!

[Sox]

have sent you the resource book as a message! Hope they help

[Inge]

we had like others do a large selection to choose from all the time, on a trolley but started out in a box ..

 

it included a variety of all things for wet and dry sand and it gave lots of learning opportunities as to why things would not work as they expected them to, and they worked out how we could make it work, like sand falling over when dry instead of making a sandcastle what could we do, they they had a chance to try out the ideas..If they wanted it wet we let them have the water to pour in themselves.

 

some days the sand was full of items, others nothing at all.. depending on the mood.. they still experience the feel of it even using tools and items in it.. for us sand was always a very free and open playing area and we went with the children..( as was the water... same applied.. )

 

I think it would be a very limiting and boring experience to have nothing or few items in the sand for a long period of time, even a day could be too long for many children.

[Panders]

We have a very large sandpit inside and close by to put into it are, different shaped sand combs, spades, small buckets, very small plant pots, flags, sieves, various - even a cat litter "shovel" which is very popular, probably because it is pink! There are the usual bob the builder vehicles nearby too and a sandwheel. However, we also use moon sand as a change not in the sandpit, far too expensive but in cat litter trays on a low table, this is always popular. We also have a large plastic box with coloured sand in it, which is only ever for dry sand and we put glitter in there too and sieves, they like to sieve out the sand and be left with the glitter, or tiny flakes of foil. We also hide numbers and letters in there too, we put in rubber gloves to fill up and play finger games, we have small cups and spoons in there for counting games or racing games who can fill their's the quickest.

[Sox]

We also have a large plastic box with coloured sand in it, which is only ever for dry sand and we put glitter in there too and sieves, they like to sieve out the sand and be left with the glitter, or tiny flakes of foil.

 

Do you colour your own sand?

[Guest]

Just wanted to share a good sand resource idea - I once worked in a nursery school where they had made small (but various sizes) cloth bags (without handles) out of strong material remnants, made a nice change from bottles and pots - the children loved filling/emptying them with sand

[Fredbear]

Thanks for sharing your idea Sam. as for the original post, all play should be open ended for children to develop, it is by trial and error that they are able to solve problems and become critical thinkers. The skill for us is having a wonderful array of tools for them to choose from to enable them to explore. These really can be quite simple tools to start with and have water available for those that wish to use it. Think about it how did we all learn to make sandcastles when we were little. Have fun whatever you do.

[fimbo]

Just wanted to share a good sand resource idea - I once worked in a nursery school where they had made small (but various sizes) cloth bags (without handles) out of strong material remnants, made a nice change from bottles and pots - the children loved filling/emptying them with sand

 

we've used socks for filling and emptying - really different to 'regular' containers -and the children loved it !

[Panders]

Do you colour your own sand?

 

No, we bought brightly coloured sand from B& Q

[Sox]

 

 

No, we bought brightly coloured sand from B& Q

 

Thats good to know! I read once that you could dye your own, the children were certainly colourful that day!

[finleysmaid]

thought you might find this interesting.........

 

http://preciouschildhood.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/connection-to-water-then-add-sand.html

[Fredbear]

Oh Finleysmaid that is a fantastic site, love it, love it, love it.

[Sox]

thought you might find this interesting.........

 

Thanks for sharing Finleysmaid ;-)

[Guest]

I got some cardboard tubes and large cotton reels/spools from the scrap-store and the children love pouring sand through these. We also made our own moonsand aswell which is MUCH cheaper than the real stuff - this works the same as wet sand

[Sox]

I got some cardboard tubes and large cotton reels/spools from the scrap-store and the children love pouring sand through these. We also made our own moonsand aswell which is MUCH cheaper than the real stuff - this work012/05/connection-to-water-then-add-sand.html[/url]s the same as wet sand

 

Mollieben how did u make ur moonsand?

[purplewednesday1]

We have sand in sand shed - whole wendy house in the garden which is 6 inches deep in sand on one side ( railway sleeper to divide) - then you can 'paddle' in the sand which is a great sensory experience. Anything goes really. Our resources are available all over the place too as they get moved around so much! I think (personally) that its really important to have somewhere to build sand castles (i.e a flat, hard surface away from the sand that everyone is playing with)

 

 

We also have sand out in sand trays / tuff spots as different activites require (e.g mark making)

pw

[Guest]

Mollieben how did u make ur moonsand?

Mollieben how did u make ur moonsand?

 

Flour mixed with baby oil - it works just as well as the shop bought stuff. The only problem is that I can't work out how to make it coloured so it is just white...