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Is your sand and water play in urgent need ofrejuvenation? If so, try these imaginative ideasfrom Anna Ranson...

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Teach Nursery 49

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Sand and water play are twostaple sensory activities thatshould be found in every earlyyears environment due to thehuge myriad of learning

opportunities they offer. However, theycan sometimes be left as sad lookingtables with little or no added resources,thus reducing their interest and failing tomaximise their great potential. Sand tables,for example, are all too often left filled withonly dry sand, with children thereforemissing out on the many opportunities formalleable play that would be possible ifwater were freely available.

As sensory bases, sand and waterprovide wonderful possibilities forstorytelling, small world imaginative play,science investigations and role playgames. All that’s needed are some newmaterials and a little imagination. So, hereare some ideas for enlivening both yoursand and water table areas with newsensory additions, themes and storytellingactivities, as well as some play recipes tostir into the mix!

try adding glitter, small beads or sequins tochange the look and feel of ordinary sandand make it a little more magical, for somefantasy imaginative play and storytelling.

Sand playColoured sandColoured sand is hugely exciting for childrenand fantastic for sensory play. Try askingchildren to crush up pieces of broken chalkto make coloured powder. This can bestirred into sand to add colour to it.Alternatively, adding a few tablespoons ofbrightly coloured powder paints will make aninstant change, and look wonderful. Thechildren can be left to experiment with thisthemselves, and to investigate the bestmethods for making the sand change colour– can they find a way to combine twocolours to create a new one? You could also

Concoctions kitchen Making a semi-permanent play area for anoutdoor concoctions lab or cooking space isa great way to extend sand play away fromthe usual pit or tabletop area. Childrenshould be encouraged to add out-of-datekitchen products such as lentils, dry pastaand beans, as well as fresh herbs and grassthat they have snipped from the garden. Realpots, pans, wooden spoons and bowls canbe collected from parents and stored on littleshelving units with an old table and apretend play oven. Old recipe books couldbe brought out to use on dry days toprovide some contextual literacy learningopportunities at the same time. Large jugs ofwater should be kept to hand for making themixing and ‘cooking’ possible. Providingbaskets of open-ended play materials, suchas those listed above, will also further extendthe play in these areas.

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50 Teach Nursery

Anna Ranson is a formerearly years coordinator andlead teacher for a London borough. She isnow a mum to three young children andwrites the award-winning early educationwebsite The Imagination Tree – visittheimaginationtree.com

abouttheauthor

Sand play can easily be revived byallowing the children some ownershipof the materials they can add to it, fortruly child-directed, open-ended play.Make these loose parts easilyaccessible by storing them in openbaskets or buckets near the sand area,and change what they contain oftenenough to sustain interest, but not sooften as to disrupt possible ongoing

LOOSE MATERIALS – SAND

play. Here are some suggestions foradding to the loose materials baskets,but there are obviously many morepossibilities to add to the list...

Pine cones, pebbles, shells, flags, sticks,fabric flowers and leaves, buildingblocks, straws, pipe cleaners, funnels,toy mini beasts, safari animals, cars andtrains, figures.

The children could experiment with thisthemselves and think about what feelsdry, sticky and ‘just right’. Or set it outwith cutters, real shells, glass pebblesand cocktail umbrellas to make littlebeach scenes, sand castles and naturalart pieces.

Play-scapes Sand is such a malleable material and thismakes it wonderful to use as an exciting playbase for many otherwise ordinary playactivities. For example, using the back of aspade, a roadway can be smoothed througha large sand tray for cars or trains to beraced along. A tunnel or cave can behollowed out of damp sand for trucks todrive through or animals to live in, and avolcano can be formed to make a greatbackdrop for a dinosaur habitat. Fabric petalsand acrylic gems make a gorgeous fairyworld setting, and by adding some whiteor black aquarium gravel with moonbuggies the sandy scene can quicklybe transformed into a moonscape.

The sand table is also a perfectplace to bring familiar stories to life,and makes a great base for stickingstory props into for sequentialstorytelling through play. Print andlaminate the characters from We’re

Going on a Bear Hunt, or find suitablesmall toys to match each one instead,then add them into the tray along withan image from the book and other sensoryelements to match each section, and watchthe story come to life!

Sand playdough Try using sand to make some unusual andexciting playdough that’s perfect for beachand shell themes or seaside small world playset-ups!

Recipe: Mix together 2 cups of plain flour, 1/2 cup ofsalt, 1 1/2–2 cups of boiling water, 2 tbsp oiland 2 tbsp cream of tartar. Stir until it forms aball, then turn it onto a surface to knead ituntil it stops being sticky. Finally, roll it into athin layer of sand, repeating this until asmuch sand is incorporated into the dough aspossible, without it becoming too dry.

Homemade mouldable sandAnother activity to try is making your ownmouldable sand – you only need twoeveryday ingredients. Simply add one cup ofvegetable oil to five cups of plain flour andstir through until it has a ‘damp sand’consistency. It can be coloured in the sameway as normal sand, and scent can beadded to enrich the sensory experience. Itcan be used to make sandcastles that holdtheir shape well, tunnels and imprints fromfound objects and shells.

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Teach Nursery 51

Water play Coloured and scented water Try adding some food colouring to the watertable to bring a new sensory dimension intoplay. Just a large squeeze of liquid colouringshould be enough to colour the whole traywhile remaining diluted enough not to stainhands or clothing. Focus on one colourtheme at a time to practise sorting andclassification skills. Ask the children to go ona colour hunt for red (waterproof) objectsaround the room that can be added to thered water in the activity tray. You could evenhave a few different trays of coloured waterat once, and ask them to sort and match toeach one.

Most supermarkets sell strawberry, vanillaand peppermint flavouring in the cakedecoration aisle and this can also make awonderful addition, filling the air with adifferent scent each time the children play atthe table! They can fill and empty bottles tomake perfumes, lotions and fizzy drinks, andsell them in a pretend shop to customers.Adding in some glitter would present furtherwonderful opportunities!Coloured

Herbal infusionsAnother way to add scent to the water is tomake herbal infusions. This is a great activityfor settings that have a herb garden or aregrowing plants indoors on the window sill, asthe children can be involved in the wholeprocess. Hand them some scissors and askthem to snip pieces from rosemary, basil,lavender or mint plants, then add the herbsto the water and leave them to soak for afew hours. You can also use herbal tea bagsor loose leaf tea for new and exciting smells.

Afterwards, try introducing tongs, sievesand strainers into the water so that thechildren can play with the plant materialsthat remain and smell the delicious scent asthey do so. The mix can be turned intosensory soups and concoctions, and used to go along with popular stories aboutcooking, too.

Songs and storiesWater is an easy medium to add story andsinging props too, and lends itself really wellto certain specific ones. Simply adding fiveplastic ducks to the water, as well as somenumbers, instantly provides an invitation tocome and sing and count with the Five little

ducks went swimming one day song, in awholly interactive and fun way. This couldeasily be adapted for any counting oraddition activity to mix in some furtherlearning possibilities, while keeping it open-ended and very hands on.

In a similar way it is easy to set up ascenario from a book to create a small worldstorytelling scene in the water, such asSharing a Shell. For this tray you simply needto add some rocks and shells to create therock pool environment from the story, thenfind some similar characters or make someby cutting their basic outlines from colouredcraft foam. Place laminated, photocopies ofpages from the book, or the book itself,nearby and encourage story-retelling usingthe available props. This would be great for The Rainbow Fish, The Snail and the

Whale, Tiddler and countless other favourite books.Songs and

Themed water playOther ways to bring excitement to waterplay include introducing themed sessions atthe table, of either a morning or afternoon, aday or even a whole week, depending onthe children’s level of interest. The simplestway to make the water play relevant is to tieit into any current topics or themes that arebeing focused on at that given time. Forexample, if you are learning all aboutspringtime then the water table mightbecome a frog pond with little toys torepresent all the stages of the frog life cycle,with some added rocks and laminatedinformation words to match the theme.

You can turn the water table into asensory small world play scene with fairies,plastic jewels and sparkly coloured water tomake a magical setting. Create some simplerole-play themes, for example, by addingbaby dolls with soap, flannels and towels fora baby clinic; some doll clothes with ascrubbing board for an outdoor washingstation; or a vehicle car wash. The watertable is obviously a great location for setting up some simple scienceinvestigations such as floating and sinkingand absorption activities, too. Follow thechildren’s lead and be inspired by theirimagination and curiosity!

When it comes to water play foryoung children, it’s important toremember to add the extramaterials that will allow them tointeract with it. These are cheapand freely available – look forfunnels, sieves, bowls and pots invarious sizes, plastic bottles, tubswith holes punctured in thebottom, pieces of plastic tubingand rain guttering, all of which arefantastic added extras to keep in astorage box near to the table,ready for experimenting withpouring and transferring. Somesettings may be able to obtain asmall hand water pump to extendthe play possibilities even further,and they are a great way to workon those gross motor andcooperative skills too. Othervaluable objects to have ready forfree play are sea creatures, boats,cut pieces of coloured craft foam,driftwood and shells, smooth rocks,glass gem pebbles, Duplo andplastic play figures. The childrencan then make up their ownimaginative play scenarios andstories, and incorporate their ownchoices into their play sessions.

LOOSE

WATERMATERIALS -

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