Play In the Sand Day! - Family Program

 

I typically take a programming break in August to do a deep clean and organizing of the program room, plan for the upcoming school year, get in some training and professional development for me and my staff, and just to have a bit of a break after the busy summer, but this year I decided to throw in one special program to tide people over.

Since August 11th is National Play in the Sand Day and I already had play sand and kinetic sand, as well as a stack of sand art and a few sand bottle necklaces leftover from SRP 2022, I decided that it would be a relatively easy, low-cost, low-prep, and fun program to do. Though I initially hadn't planned on buying anything new for the program, I ended up getting a couple of small inflatable wading pools to use rather than the sensory bin (for ease of access by the little ones), another 100 pounds of play sand, and some great sand toys I happened to see on clearance.

Benefits: Sand play is not only fun, it offers several developmental benefits for kids:

• Sensory Exploration - sand play allows kids to experience different textures, temperatures, dry vs wet, as well as movement, how their body interacts with the sand and space, developing tactile, vestibular, and proprioceptive senses.
• Gross Motor Skills - scooping, digging, lifting buckets, using large molds all build muscle strength and eye-hand coordination.
• Fine Motor Skills - using mini molds, spoons, collecting and arranging shells and rocks, sprinkling sand or water, using the pincer grasp all help develop and refine the smaller muscles and coordination of hands, fingers, and even toes.
• Math & Science - scooping, molding and building with sand help develop concepts of volume, capacity, and numbers; sorting shells by size, color or type practices observation and classification skills; mixing sand and water encourages curiosity and experimentation.
• Problem Solving - figuring out the right amount of moisture for the sand to be molded and keep its shape without collapsing or sticking, realizing building too close to the water means a short life for your castle, and trying to build bigger castles all require observation, testing, patience, and perseverance.
• Creativity & Imagination - all open-ended play is wonderful for encouraging creativity and imagination, and sand play has endless possibilities. Build castles with molds or freeform, build something else entirely! Sculpt sand into animals, pretend to be a crab, a pirate, an explorer, a treasure hunter....
• Social & Language Skills - as kids play near each other, they talk together, perhaps collaborate and work together, work out sharing and turn-taking, conflict resolution, and make new friends.
• Boosts Immunity - Children who are allowed to play outdoors and get dirty have stronger immunity than those who do not.

Ages: Offered as family program for all ages, attended by kids aged 1-10 & adult caregivers

Time: Drop-in program, 1-1/2 hour

Budget: $40, all items reusable, already had several items

Materials: 

• Play sand, two 50 lb bags, Lowe's, $7.50 ea
• Small inflatable wading pool, two, $14 ea, Amazon
• Assorted sand toys & molds, already had some, bought a few more on clearance
• Kinetic sand, already had
• Adhesive sand art kits, leftover from SRP 2022
• Sand bottle necklaces, leftover from SRP 2022
• Assorted colored sand, already had
• Assorted shells, already had
• Cafeteria trays, already had
• Mini funnels, already had
• Dixie cups, smallest

Activities: 

1. Sandbox - I filled each small wading pool with one 50lb bag of play sand, along with shells, various castle molds, animal molds, shovels, and other sand toys. Sand was already wet enough to mold; if not, add water.
2. Kinetic Sand - Gave them a scoop (around a cup) of kinetic sand on tray, and provided mini castle and animal molds and shells.
3. Adhesive Sand Art - These came as a kit, and kids just picked up the kit and a tray. Simply peel off the cover from all sections for a given color, sprinkle on the sand, spread, press in, and dump off excess. Repeat with each color until all sections are done.
4. Mini Sand Bottle Necklaces - Dispensed colored sand in Dixie cups, set out funnels and bottles. Kids chose desired colors and using a funnel poured the sand in the bottles in layers. They did this on trays to contain the sand.
5. Book Display - I put together a display with books featuring sand, sandcastles, going to the beach, seashells, seagulls, and sand crabs.

How It Went:

This was a relatively low cost, low effort program, and a good way to make use of re-usable materials and supplies we already had and use up some leftover consumables. I had a good turnout, with about 18 kids of various ages and 12 adults. Considering we are in a small, rural town and school was back in session, this was a great turnout for an after school program. I also had a lot of good feedback, with several parents and grandparents thanking me for having it. They always like it when their kids can engage in messy play somewhere other than home!

I figured I'd be sweeping sand for the rest of the week, but it was surprisingly easier to clean up than I expected. We put everything away, wiped down tables and chairs then put chairs up on tables, scooped all the sand out of the pools into storage tubs, spot-swept the obvious areas of sand, then dry-mopped the whole floor. Finally, asked the custodian to wet-mop the floor that evening while the chairs were out of the way. I would be hesitant to do a program like this on a carpeted floor, but putting tarps down could help minimize the mess.

I would highly recommend doing a program like this, and I may make it an annual event. It has great developmental benefits, is inexpensive, easy, well-received, and a nice bonus program to throw in after summer reading to extend the summer fun just a little longer.

Further resources:

• Play-in-the-Sand Day themed storytime
• "Sand Play: Nature's Etch-A-Sketch" from Pathways.org
• "Developmental Benefits of Sand Play" from BabySparks.com
• "10 Amazing Benefits of Sand Play" from EmpoweredParents.com