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Sand Exploration at BestStart Lakeside Village
Our tamariki love exploring the sand as an outdoor provocation. Patting, moulding, pushing, mixing, sprinkling and digging - children make cakes, build castles, create rivers, and excavate land - easily moving it from one place to another.
Playing with sand helps children learn the properties of sand as they feel, part, shape, dig, and more. It also helps strengthen their muscles as they move the sand around. Moreover, they learn to be creative and work alongside others on special projects such as building castles, digging holes, and making mountains!
Through imaginary play such as cooking and earthworks, children consolidate their thinking about what they have seen in their community. Maths and visual arts learning are incorporated by making patterns, filling up different sizes and shapes of containers, the concept of empty and full, counting shells or stones, and many more concepts of learning.
Sand Play supports the Exploration Strand where children gain confidence and control of their bodies, where the importance of spontaneous play is recognised and when they learn strategies for active exploration, thinking, and reasons. Also, it gives children the opportunity to develop useful social interaction skills while playing alongside other children as part of Contribution Strand. In addition, it helps children learn the ideas about limits and boundaries of acceptable behaviour when playing with others which is part of the Belonging Strand.