You may be surprised to learn that sand and water are important activities in our program. We have water play indoors using the water table and we have water play outdoors, during warm weather, using plastic tubs. We also have sand play indoors using the sand table as well as sand play outdoors using the sand box.
When the children play with sand and water, they stay involved for long periods of time. With water, they like to bathe the baby dolls or find out what will float or sink. They like to pour the water into different-sized containers and add food coloring or soap to see what happens to the water. With the sand, they poke, mold, and push to see what happens. The older children build with the sand. I have props for the sand table, including shovels, sieves, buckets, small plastic containers, and plastic cars and trucks.
Children learn a lot of things when they play with sand and water. They discover they can make bubbles by adding soap to the water. They learn that they can mold sand into a castle when they add water to dry sand. They have a chance to practice pouring and spilling things without worrying about the mess.
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