Sand Table Ideas for Kindergarten
Children in kindergarten learn through play, and a sand table offers them an opportunity to use many of their senses while playing. Sand tables allow them to feel for objects hidden in sand. It can also help with math, science, and art lesson plans. There are a number of sand table activities adults may introduce to children in kindergarten.
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Measuring Activities
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Allow children in kindergarten to explore volume at the sand table by supplying a scooper, funnel and various sizes of clear measuring cups. Show them how to use the funnel, scoop sand, and how to pour sand from one cup to another. They will learn while playing that each cup is a different size, and the largest cup can hold the most sand and the smaller cups hold less sand. Children can also practice counting and addition through these activities by keeping count of how many small cups need to be filled with sand to make one big cup of sand.
Science Activities
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Introduce children in kindergarten to the science of magnets. Gather five magnetic items, such as a fridge magnet, magnetic marbles and alphabet magnets, and five non-magnetic items, such as a pencil, a soda bottle cap and a plastic spoon. Hide all the objects underneath the sand. Offer children a large toy magnet wand to roam across the surface of the sand to see which objects stick to the magnet. For the remaining non-magnetic items in the sand, ask children to feel for objects underneath the sand with their hands. Ask them to guess what each hidden object is before pulling it out of the sand and then review the differences between magnetic items and non-magnetic items.
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Drawing Activities
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Introduce children in kindergarten to drawing. Smooth over the top layer of the sand in the sand table with the palm of your hands or with a hard cover book. Ask children to think of the layer of sand as a sheet of paper that they may draw on. Give your kindergartner a thin, long stick to creatively draw a picture in the sand. After children are done drawing, ask them to write their name below the drawing. Take a photo of their drawing to hang up as art.
Building and Sculpting Activities
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Show children in kindergarten how sand can be used to build and sculpt objects. Add water to the sand so that it is moistened and can be packed together and stick. Offer children a variety of pails and tools that can help them create patterns in the sand. Your kindergartner will enjoy the opportunity to be creative in building and sculpting different objects. You can offer ideas such as building and sculpting a castle, animal or car.
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References
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