With summer approaching and her new sand and water table waiting to be played with, I thought we should get a feel for sand indoors until the weather gets warm. Instead of bringing some real sand indoors, I decided to make some sand. This sand is edible just in case Riley decided to taste it and that she did!
Materials
- Box of crackers (We used a generic brand of Ritz crackers)
- Blender
- Heavy dish that your little one can’t flip over (I love to use my 9 x 13 Pyrex dish)
- Toys and utensils to play with in the sand (Bring out the shovels, buckets, sand molds, or use kitchen utensils like we did)
- Mat or plastic table cloth
- Painters’ tape
Directions
- Empty all the crackers into the blender. Our box came with four sleeves of crackers and I used all four sleeves.
- Blend the crackers until they are crushed to the consistency of sand.
- Pour your edible sand into your heavy dish.
- Set up the play area. Tape down your mat or plastic table cloth.
- Set the sand out on the play mat with toys and utensils. We used measuring cups and spoons as well as a basting brush.
- Let your little one explore!
Tip: Don’t wash your floors before this activity like I did (provided of course you used a mat or plastic table cloth). Wait until after your child has finished playing with the edible sand to clean the floors. I cleaned my floors twice today.
Riley's experience
Riley and Felix were both intrigued by this activity. Riley quickly figured out that this sand was edible. She proceeded to dip, scoop, and brush her utensils in the sand and feed it to herself. We, of course, did this activity right before dinner. My planning today was all off-cleaning the floors before and then after the activity, and giving her an edible activity right before dinner. She loved eating the sand and that is primarily how she played with this activity. She also loved flinging the sand all over the floor. She would crawl through the crumbs and then crawl off the mat over to Felix to let him lick the crumbs off her before returning for more. Needless to say, there were crumbs everywhere! But Riley was having a blast. I saved what was left of the sand for future play in a zip close plastic bag.
Benefits
- Fine motor skills: Your child will be exercising their hand and finger muscles as they grab, scoop, dump, pull, push, open and close their fingers/hands in the sand and with their utensils. Giving your child plenty of opportunities to exercise their small muscle groups is important for developing control and muscle tone.
- Cognitive development: Your child is engaging many senses during sensory play. The more senses involved means the stronger the neural pathways and connections being made.
- Language development: As your child plays, narrate what they are doing and experiencing. This introduces and exposes your child to contextual vocabulary. They may hear words such as sand, gritty, scoop, dump, taste, etc.
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