Exploring Physical Properties of Dry Sand, Wet Sand, and Sand Play-dough through Play and Tool Use

Alexandra LeeMay 19, 2011

Beginnings…

Plan: Build with blocks and observe/test strategies for creating stable structures

Purpose: Explore the concept of foundations and bases and the role they play in making stable, secure constructions

…Later that Day

Technology on the playground: Sandbox Tool use Construction Exploring of

materials

Redirection

New Plan: Explore construction techniques and purpose/use

of tools through a variation of the same material (dry sand, wet sand, sand play-dough, oobleck)

Observe similarities and differences in the way children approach the differing materials and how it influences their construction strategies, the way they utilize tools, and in which ways they explore the material

Learning outcomes: Discover and explore the properties of varied

materials How to adapt and expand schemas and strategies

to effectively and satisfactorily work with a new material

Dry Sand

Sifting Raking, molding Use of Shovels

Digging Filling buckets, sifters, etc.

Pouring Use of construction trucks to transport

sand Symbolic play

Water and Sand

Tool use: Watering pail Hands Shovel and Buckets

Construction: Molding Making impressions Mixing (all more effective with wet sand)

Exploring material: Where did all the water go? More heavy (harder to pick up full bucket) Feels different; a lot more exploring material with hands compared to

dry sand (swishing in puddle, scooping wet sand, squeezing in hands, letting it drip)

Can’t pour as easily as dry sand Less symbolic representation and play Hesitant to interact at first

Water and Sand

Sand Play-dough

Construction: Similar to play-dough (rolling balls/snakes,

pancakes) Tools:

Hands Exploring material:

Rolling Squeezing in hands Flattening Crumbling in fingers

Symbolic representation

Sand Play-dough

Sand Play-dough

Self-Initiation

A rainy day on the playground… Filling up buckets using shovels, with water

from puddles Little symbolic representation Transporting filled buckets to sandbox

In the sandbox: Symbolic play (unlike first interaction with

sand and water) Wet sand becomes incorporated with dry

sand Wet sand for molding, dry sand for pouring etc.

Combining varying amounts of water and sand to create a variety of textures

Observations

More explorative with unfamiliar materials

More purposeful, higher level of symbolic representation with familiar materials

Discovered new strategies/purposes to initiate and utilize in future situations Using wet sand for molding Using dry sand for pouring or transport

Next Steps…

Gardening; Cooking Apply similar materials

and tools in real-life context

Representational play mostly revolves around baking and cooking

Explore and incorporate more tools and more materials, their purposes, how they interplay, and the results they create

Connect symbolic (sandbox) experiences to real-life (cooking) counterpart