Do You Use Compost In Your Sand Tray?

[Guest]

Hi I am wondering if anyone uses bought compost in their sand tray.

 

I used to use it when I first started teaching and wondered if you can still use it now and if so what type do you all buy?

[Guest]

hi raffell, yes we do. we are in a church hall and are not allowed to use sand so we have to find other materials for the children to explore. We use it a lot for:

garden centre role -play.

we add bugs and creatures

pots and trowels

zoo animals

dumpers and diggers

little people etc.

we use b&q economical compost, plenty of warm soapy water to wash hands after play and paper towels

the children love it and it is ok to clear up after play.

[Alison]

I remember years ago doing a work shop on "alternatives to sand in the sand box"

 

one suggestion was tea leaves, after Tea bags have been in boiling water they are sterile (as long as no milk/sugar has been added) once dried out and removed from the bag, the tea leaves make an interesting alternative to sand, In theory with the help of some trusty parents /carers to collect tea bags it would be a cheap/ free resource

 

I havent personally tried it though, I would imagine the texture would be like dry soil but with the smell of tea

[aliamch]

We also have used compost much the same as Jessica and depending on the time of year have let the children pot up seeds to take home at the end of the week.

Karrie

[Sue R]

The tea bag idea is great - it takes a while to collect enough, but it's worth the wait! Compost is good, too - have used it in much the ways already detailed. Would just add a word of warning in that it's very inclined to 'waft about' and can be extremely uncomfortable if you get it in your eyes!

 

Sue

[Guest Wolfie]

Yes, we used it regularly in the ways described above and it was always a big hit with the children - just bought a bag of whatever was cheapest at the local garden centre!

[Guest]

We have used compost but used children's gardening gloves as well as we weren't sure if you should or not...can you get away with not using them?

[narnia]

Porridge oats are great too, really nice feeling and smell............just DON'T let any water get near them!!!!!!!!

[Guest]

Hmmm.... water sounds fun on your porridge oats!!!!

[Marion]

It's interesting but starts to smell really quickly

We use ordinary common garden compost if you sprinkle bird seed it seems to sprout overnight

Rice is nice in the sand tray too great texture and sound.

[Guest]

At the moment we have got organic maize! Children love it and its easy to sweep up (does look a bit like someone's teeth have fallen out tho!) . We usually have organic wheat, not maize but we couldn't get any this time. Helps if your husband works in an animal feed business........

[Guest]

we use compost but spray it with water to keep the dust down, If not it gets too dry the children look like they have been shoved up the chimmney.

[Guest MaryEMac]

We used dry porridge oats at the beginning of the week and then on the friday we added just enough water to make it damp. Great fun was had by all, using little containers to make cakes, catfood etc or even just moulding it.

We have even had jelly in our sand tray, bit sticky but lots of interesting conversations.

 

Mary

[Marion]

We've had jelly and strawberry angel delight

[Guest]

florists gel....... getting carried away now!

[Guest]

Try cous cous, it's lovely to touch when dry and goes all gloopy and interesting when wet

[Guest]

Wow never thought of having oats and couscous I will have to try that.

 

I have given the soil a try and children have enjoyed it, They are all making differnet length flowers to stick in the pots.

I have tried dried spaghetti twists etc. too that was fun and very noisy!! especially when the children found out how much fun it was to crunch it under foot! Thank you for all your replies

tx

[Guest]

It always amazes me that you can provide all manner of edible items for the children to play with (whip; beans; rice crispies; jelly, etc), and the children never ever try to eat it

[Guest]

I thought that too - the dried pasta I have tried but I can imagine the jelly, instant whip, etc would be gone in a flash..... maybe its because I take younger children and the over 3's have more restraint (NOT!!!)

[Marion]

We have one child who eats the sand so guess she's probably tried the others. A few children have asked if they can eat things we put in (not sure if they asked before or after they had tried it )

[Guest]

Thanks for this post its fab! We're always on the look out for new ideas. Have tried tea - takes an age to collect but is great. Can go mouldy if its not dried out properly though!

Lucy x

[Guest]

Where do you get florists gel from in bulk? I looked on the internet and got every other type of gel but not florists!

 

Also does anyone know how to colour sand? I tried it with food colouring but it ended up colouring the childrens hands!! They are in year 3 now and still talk about the day their hands turned red!! Oh and talking about mistakes, organic compost that said in small letters contains manure and we didn't know until it was tipped out onto a builders tray!! haa Year 2 stll talk about the smelly compost too and when we had to leave our classroom!! oh the fun!!

[Guest]

Raffell, I got my florists gel from QVC - we have a sale shop in town but maybe on line? My daughter works in a florist for her saturday job so I'll get her to ask about bulk purchases....

Coloured sand - last year it was sold in our garden centre, already bagged but hideously expensive.

We have got ordinary sand tarted up with coloured gravel for fish tanks. Is that going to work for you?

Edited March 28, 2007 by Guest

[Guest]

We bought some coloured sand from TTS - http:www.tts-group.co.uk

 

They do sacks of different coloured sand - we bought green and purple. Lovely find sand. £8.95 for a sack. Not cheap, but lots cheaper than buying a bottle.

 

Harricroft

[stedeford]

We have used lentils, the children love the feel of them and they are great for pouring and spooning. They tend to go everwhere but are fairly easy to clear up afterwards and the children like to do this with a brush and pan.

[Guest Wolfie]

I knew one person who used to keep all her used teabags, dry them out and then use the tealeaves in the sand tray!! Now that's what I call dedication!

[Guest]

I knew one person who used to keep all her used teabags, dry them out and then use the tealeaves in the sand tray!! Now that's what I call dedication!

 

 

Actually the way my staff get through teabags it shouldn't take too long to save enough for the sand tray, thing is I only have two staff and one of them drinks coffee. ( think about it)

 

Peggy

[Guest Wolfie]