Exploring physical properties of Sand through Play and Tool Use
1. Exploring Physical Properties of
Dry Sand, Wet Sand, and Sand
Play-dough through Play and
Tool Use
Alexandra Lee
May 19, 2011
2. 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
3. …Later that Day
Technology on the
playground: Sandbox
Tool use
Construction
Exploring of materials
4. 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
5. Dry Sand
Sifting
Raking, molding
Use of Shovels
Digging
Filling buckets, sifters, etc.
Pouring
Use of construction trucks to transport sand
Symbolic play
6. 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
11. 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
12. 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
13. 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