Ms. Mehl’s Classroom Investigation!

As Ms. Fennessey had posted previously on the blog, the children have shown a great interest in the sand tray. They often bring over multiple types of materials to explore with, such as corks, shells and jewels. To figure out what the children are interested in about the sand, I introduced them to different consistencies. We have very fine, dry play sand in our classroom tray and outside there is a large sandbox with coarse, brown, damp sand. I gave the children an opportunity to explore a larger quantity of the material by adding bucketfuls of outdoor play sand into an unused sandbox. I invited the children to come explore the new material, and found they often compressed the sand into mounds and labeled them as “castles.” They even tried to sneak in a few random objects they had found next to the box, which gave inspiration for the next exploration.

 One of the materials they wanted to explore was a clear plastic cup we use for water during hot outdoor play. I offered them plastic cups in order to observe how they would use them in the sand. This time, however, I brought Ms. Hughes’ large container of dry play sand over from next door, and added the cups. Almost every child came to explore through the hour exploration time. Paisley filled two cups with sand while Ibrahim held two empty cups in the bottom of the container. Paisley lifted the full cups to eye level and watched the sand pour out as she tipped them down. Ibrahim tried to catch the falling sand with his empty cups. The other children often did the same thing, but tried to stop the sand’s movement with their arm. When I introduced the cups to the damp outdoor sand, they did not use the cups in the same way they had in the morning. Ivan and Diego filled their cups with damp sand, patted the sand further down into the cup, flipped it over and lifted it to reveal a mold. Vanessa, Paisley, Tyler and Lilly also continued this process, and would say, “Look! I am making a castle!” The children learned through these experiences how the water held the sand particles together, which aided in creating molds and mounds of sand that could continue to be added on to. Whereas the dry sand did not stick together, and would fall apart after the cup would flip over. They focused more so on the movement of the dry sand and how it fell from the cup rather than creating a sand castle.

At this point in our explorations, castles have taken over as a primary focus. When exploring the types of sand with sifters and funnels, they used them as molds in the damp sand to build castles. We used spray bottles to make the normally dry play sand a little damp, and the children once again made mounds of sand and labeled them castles. They noticed that even though the play sand when wet did not change color to brown, it still acted in the same way as the damp sand had by being moldable. I introduced the kinetic sand to the children on trays rather than in a large container, and even on their own they mentioned creating sand castles.  

The sand is not the only area in the classroom where we see castles being built. The children used magna-tiles and Legos to create structures and label them castles as well. I wanted to see what the children know about castles, so I introduced the castle blocks and asked them to build. I asked them questions such as, “Who lives in a castle?” Lilly told me princesses and princes live in castles. I asked her what castles need, and she said windows. Besides those few basic things, the children could not really verbalize to me what a castle is. It seems the only thing the children do know is they have towers. I have noticed the common denominator in all the “castles” is a single tower.

To gain a better understanding of what the children know about these structures, I am going to start a discussion during a group time to have the children explain to me what they know. We will take a look at multiple different castles, and talk about their different qualities. After the group time, we will use the pictures as inspiration to create different structures. To further the concept of castles, we will discuss the different parts of a castle, what they were used for, and how we can add those details into our castle explorations.

            To continue these types of explorations at home, ask your child or children about what they are doing at school with the sand. You could ask them about the different types of sand we use. The damp sand from outside is often referred to as the “brown” sand by the children or “afternoon” sand, and the dry sand from inside is the “white” sand, or “morning” sand. You could talk about past experiences creating sand castles in the sand on vacations, create castles at home with blocks, or talk about the castles they see in their favorite TV shows. Another inexpensive way to give your child a sand experience at home is to create moon sand out of flour and oil (recipe to follow). These ingredients mixed together to create a moldable sand which is great for sensory play and reinforcing those concepts talked about at school.  Remember! We would love to hear about anything your children are doing or saying at home about castles!

Moon Sand Recipe:

9 cups of flour

1 ¼ cups baby oil

Work with your child to mix these two ingredients together with your hands to create a moldable powder. (For other moon sand recipes with different consistencies, Pinterest is a great resource!)

If you are worried about your child or a sibling getting it into their mouth, the baby oil could be replaced with vegetable oil. Creating this in a large storage container with a lid allows for easy storage for another day. Add small cups to create structures or just encourage them to use their hands!