Learning Through Sand

Every morning after calendar time Grace reads words from a poster that contains word families (e.g., reading words from the "at" word family such as cat, bat, hat, mat, pat, etc...). I thought I would mix things up a bit and target the "at" and "ag" word families today by writing the words in blue sand that Grace and I poured onto a cookie sheet. Grace LOVED the feel of the sand on her hands and had great fun reading the words and also tracing the sandy letters with her fingers. Jack loved the feel of the sand on his hands and feet. Jack spent over twenty minutes running his fingers through the sand while Grace made sand prints. After targeting the word families, Grace made sand prints by putting glue on paper then scooping the blue sand on top and finally shaking off the excess sand.

One of Grace's many sand prints can be seen above. I also made a Grace and Jack sand print so Grace could have fun tracing the sandy letters with her fingers and for Jack to continue to experience this texture with his hands. This was a fun activity for all of us and also a great way to bring a litle bit of the beach indoors.