Those tiny grains of weathered rocks and shells supply children with endless play experiences. As children scoop, sift, dump, and mold, they learn about much more than just what they can do with sand. A sandbox provides children with a plethora of opportunities to practice skills in many areas of their development.
Sensory: Young children learn through their senses, absorbing information from their experiences in their environment. Sand play definitely provides a multisensory experience. As the child enters the area, he may use his sight to see the rolling hills and valleys, he may hear as sand is poured or scooped from one place to another, he may smell a waft of sand dust pass by his nose, he will feel as he touches and moves through the sand, and he may even taste– not that we want them too, but it happens.
Social: Easily intertwined as children play parallel to each other or together is the practice of social skills, grace and courtesy. This is an opportune time to learn to play and work cooperatively with others. Depending on their stage of development, the child can practice a simple, “Thank you”, or a more advanced,“May I have the sifter, please?”.
Emotional: An accidental sand throw to the eyes is not uncommon while children learn to control their movements. This uncomfortable learning experience helps the child show empathy and lends opportunities to express emotions in appropriate ways. Creativity and imagination are fostered through sand play. The sandbox can be a massive landscape for toy construction trucks or with just a little scoop, a mini-birthday cake in a cup. Imaginations can dig deep.
Language: There are ample opportunities to practice new vocabulary in the sandbox. A child shouting, “My enormous volcano is erupting!” shows us they can relate their play and creativity to their experiences and lessons. Plus, their sensorial experiences can present themselves as they use acquired sensory vocabulary to description their play like, “the long river is going to get filled by the hot lava”. They demonstrate an understanding of adjectives such, long/short, rough/smooth, dry/wet, cold/hot, long/short, etc.
Motor Skills: All this imaginary play strengthens finger and hand muscles and improves coordination, which is a precursor for handwriting, many sports, and self-sufficiency tasks like buttoning clothes and tying shoes.
Sand is one of the very best nature-made toys.
We are sure that the children will love the new addition of the sandbox. We can’t wait to see their excitement on their first day of school.
School Resumes
August 14th for Infants through 3 years
August 17th for VPK students
