Children are born naturalists. They explore with all their senses, experiment in the environment, and communicate their discoveries to those around them. My students need the tools in the classroom to help them develop their natural curiosities. A sand and water table can provide this.
My students are naturally curious and active Kindergartners.
They love to go on nature walks and discover the world around them. They love to explore various items in our nature center and I could only imagine the things they would come up with while playing in the sand and water. We are a lower middle income school on a very tight budget.
My Project
Sand and water are natural child magnets. Kindergartners are still learning about the world around them and both sand and water offer unique, flexible properties that make them ideal for play. Students will be provided time each week to explore. First, they will be given unstructured exploration time and then move to completing structured activities. After a given amount of time the item being used in the table will be changed to another item and again the students will be given unstructured time to play and discover what the item can do before starting structured activities using that item. For example, students will start using sand in the table and then will move to using water and then working with a mixture of both sand and water. During unstructured time the students will be given the chance to discover, question, and discuss with one another. This type of inquiry learning is something that can't be replaced with paper pencil activities.
Sand and water tables are natural child magnets and are a necessary developmental skill which a child's tactile system needs.
Sand and water tables support the whole child in developing physical, cognitive, sensory, and speech and language skills.
More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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