Because I am often asked what materials I use in my sand and water
table, I am writing a series of posts about those materials. I started to introduce some of those materials in my recent posts about two of my favorite materials: sticks and rocks. Last October, I wrote about one of the most elemental materials I use in the table, namely, water.
In this post, I will write about another elemental material, namely, sand. Like water, sand can take different forms.
First of all, there is generic play sand. I always get my sand from a big box hardware store in bags that is labeled "play sand."
Never underestimate the power of plain old sand to foster all types of play from scooping, pouring, filling and dumping. The one aspect of generic sand that I do not appreciate is that it tends to be dusty, especially when children pour it even from a small height. To counteract the dust, I use a spray bottle to slightly spray the sand with water. When I change the material in the table, I always make sure the sand is completely dry when I store it in a bucket because wet sand gets musty.
I appreciate different kinds of sands so I was excited one when one year I found a white play sand. The beauty of this sand is that it is dustless so I do not have to spray it with water. An added plus with this sand is that it was very fine and soft.
Children in the picture above are pouring sand over a pegboard platform. Even though the sand is dropping a couple of levels, there is no dust.
Another feature that enhances the children's play with the sand is that it is so white. In the picture below, one child pretends it is snow and explains to the other child how a blizzard buried all the vehicles. (You have to understand that I write this blog from Minnesota where we can have snow on the ground for up to six months.)
One year, I found a beige sand that has many of the same properties as the white sand. It is very fine, dustless and quite soft to the touch.
There are other fine sands at hardware stores that are often used for sandblasting, but avoid them because they have what are called free silicates. Free silicates are bad for the lungs. In fact, avoid any sand that contains them.
Another type of sand that is in my inventory is Moon Sand. Moon Sand is not a sand that is pourable. Instead it is moldable, which is great for making things like cakes.
Notice that the two trays make it possible to display the cakes above the bottom of the sensory table.
Since Moon Sand sticks together and can form a solid shape or block, the children can use real tools to cut it. Below, four children have filled the wooden tray completely with Moon Sand and are all using different size putty knives to cut and jab the block of Moon Sand. Serious work requires serious tools.
I know there are recipes for making your own Moon Sand. I have never tried to make it. I always ordered a commercial version. By the way, there are other kinds of specialty sand such as kinetic or slimy sand, but I never tried them. They do look interesting.
I saved my favorite sand until last. It is called
Jurassic Sand. It's color is striking while being dust free, dye free, chemical free and millions of years old to boot. It is also expensive; I always joke with the parents that it is so expensive because it is "antique" sand.
Over the years, I have kept adding to my stash of Jurassic Sand until I now have enough for two tables which is over two hundred dollars worth, but worth every penny.
Since it is Jurassic Sand, I often times I like to include little dinosaurs to enrich the children's play.
When people asked me if I ever mix sand and water my answer has always been: no! That was true until the spring of 2016 right before I retired from the classroom. The reason why I changed my mind was because of another feature of Jurassic Sand: it is washable. If you want to read more about why and what happened when I mixed water with Jurassic Sand, you can find the answers in the following post entitled I dare you.
If you have been following this thread about what I put in the sensory table you may be getting the idea that I like materials from nature. You would not be mistaken. So what is up next? Stay tuned!
