Kids and Sand Play

It is my experience that children love playing in sand. I have seen lots of classrooms abandon sand and replace it with foam chips or rice etc. Sand is a vital piece in the play equation. It offers so much and is so different as a play activity when it is wet and dry. Properties change and what you can do with it changes too.

Here are some of my students engrossed in sand play.
I will write more on this subject down the road, but I just wanted to post these pictures to demonstrate how play engages children at a deep level.

Smoothing the sand with the flattened hand to create a slope.
These boys are working together, communicating and negotiating how things are done.

Imagination and cooperation develop through sand play.