Sand Boxes – Learn While Playing

Do you remember those sunny days combing your hands and bare feet through the soft warm sand while hanging out with your best friend in your sand box? A sand box has more benefits than just creating great childhood memories. Believe it or not playing in a sand box has been proven to enhance cognitive, language, and physical development as well as social development in children.

Children strengthen their creative imaginations when they are provided props that encourage dramatic play such as cars, trucks, people, and animals while playing in a sand box. When given rocks, sticks, feathers, shells and similar items, the creative juices flow endlessly as they create any pattern their hearts desire.

They strengthen their small and large muscle groups as they mold wet sand into creative designs. Filling buckets or other containers with large amounts of sand and transporting it to another area develops gross motor skills. Pouring dry sand through a sieve or sifter or into a funnel that funnels into a specific container helps to develop the fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination.

Children will discover that sand and water have different textures individually than when they are combined. Wet sand feels differently than when dry. Wet and dry sand have different physical qualities. Wet sand can be molded while when dry it can be sifted or funneled. When wet, it feels cooler than when dry.

Children learn about volume and capacity, weights and measures. As they explore they discover some containers are short and wide, others might be thin and tall. How much sand fits in each? They learn which containers when filled are heavier, which are lighter. In these exercises they learn the same volume of wet sand weighs more than dry sand.

Additionally, language skills are developed while playing in a sand box. Children expand their vocabulary when they learn to use words like grainy, dusty, shallow, funnel etc. They can practice writing letters in the sand with their fingers or sticks. Using alphabet molds are fun ways to learn and practice letters and words. Children are curious. They ask and answer lots of questions while playing in sand.

When providing an environment of creativity, there are about as many ways to challenge children’s minds and promote development as there are grains of sand in the box. It is well documented that playing is one of the best methods of learning!

By: Sarah Schwendeman

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Sarah Schwendeman is the author and can provide additional information about the necessity of providing children with environments in which to play with sand and water and the benefits it provides in their early childhood development. Visit www.sandboxlot.com to view quality children's sand boxes and sand and water tables. Provide your child with a place to go for hours of entertainment so they may learn while playing!