If the sandbox is going outside, I would only put clean (sanitized) sand that you get from a construction company, which is what we did when I was a director of a coop nursery school. The sand is delivered and dumped into the sandbox. The children have a great time helping to spread it out in the sandbox. In an outdoor sandbox, you can put a lot of items that lead to pretend play - trucks of all kinds, measuring cups, shovels, rakes, etc. You can also put natural items such as some sturdy small twigs, stones, etc. I would also think about putting a large sandbox outside, which can easily be put together with two by fours. If you by a tarp and some bricks to anchor the tarp, you can cover the sandbox to ensure that it does not become a place where cats will urinate.
For an indoor sandbox, you still need to use sanitized sand but you can also fill a sandbox with other items such as packaging material, rice, macaroni, etc. Some folks have a problem with using food items in sandboxes but they provide a lot of different sensory experiences for the children with the possibility of developing children's vocabulary related both to the sensorial experiences as well as a realization of the weight differences of these products. Here, again, you can put measuring cups, scoopers, etc. as well as setting up the sandbox (especially if filled with sand) as an archeology dig as mentioned by others.
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Nora Krieger
Associate Professor Emerita/ Chair NJEEPRE
Bloomfield College/ New Jersey Educators Exploring the Practices of Reggio Emilia
Highland Park NJ
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-13-2018 02:18 PM
From: Krista Call
Subject: Sandboxes
Hello, I am looking for some suggestions for what to put inside a sandbox other than sand. We are setting up four new 4x4 sandboxes on our playgrounds. There are small in size for easy maintenance. One of the boxes will go in our 2-year-old playground, and the other three will go on our 3 and 4-year-old playground. Thank you!
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Krista Call
Preschool Director
Zion Lutheran School
O Fallon IL
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