Set up the sand table area in your classroom. Make sure the environment is safe. If you do not have money to buy a sand table, create your own from large plastic tubs placed on a low table. Fill the table with clean sand and make sure the floor below it is nonskid for times when you add water.
Provide a variety of objects for sand play. Measuring spoons, small shovels and rakes, construction vehicles, funnels and plastic molds all allow children to manipulate the sand and improve their fine motor skills. Be sure to provide unstructured play time with the sand table and allow students to explore the sand with these items, using their endless creativity.
Hide small items in the sand and allow children to dig for them in a treasure hunt. Magnets, alphabet letters and numbers, small toy animals, river rocks, toy dinosaur bones and pretend ancient artifacts are great items to find in the sand. Create an added challenge by having students sort the items they discover. For example, students can sort by color or shape.
Trace letters and numbers in the sand. Use the sand table to extend your writing lessons. When students practice such skills at the sand table, they are committing their writing skills to motor memory in a hands-on manner. Place an alphabet chart near the sand table to encourage this activity.
Teach the skill of estimation with weight and volume at the sand table. Provide students with measuring spoons and have them estimate how many scoops are needed to fill a given container. Older children can weigh sand on a small scale. Make this a lesson in comparing and contrasting by completing the same activities with wet sand as done by early childhood specialist Risa Young.
Use other items besides sand at the table occasionally as recommended by teacher Stephanie Springer. Transform the table into a water table where students explore whether items sink or float. Tape connectable building blocks onto the table, fill with water and allow students to build underwater creations. Other items such as shaving cream, colored rice, cotton balls and play dough provide sensory learning at the sand table.