post#1 Sand Play- Make Sense

 SAND PLAY – MAKE SENSE’S

If you’ve ever thought that buying toys for your kids seems like a cycle of

desperate pestering followed by boredom, how about considering sand as a toy.

Playing in the sand can be a great opportunity for children to have unstructured

playtime. Sand is a fascinating material for a child, it can be made hard or it can

be left soft, it can flow or it can be solid, sand itself offers endless possibilities

for a child’s imagination. Apart from being fun it also provides countless

developmental benefits to the little ones.

Fine Motor Development

Sand is the perfect natural resource for developing fine motor skills - building

strength and control. Part of fine motor development is when children learn how

to hold objects in their hands, they begin to develop small muscles, particularly

in their fingers which help them to grip and control pens and pencils.

Tactile Sense

Sand play is particularly beneficial for developing a sense of textures. The

contrast it creates with concrete, grass, dirt, and wood will emphasize the

sensation of each surface and different textures for children to feel on their skin.

This simple play is a stepping stone for later skills such as identifying objects by

touch alone, discriminating various textures, playing instruments, and even

writing/typing without looking down.

Body Awareness {Proprioceptive}

Proprioception refers to a child’s ability to sense their body’s position and be

aware of their surroundings. Sand play provides appropriate heavy work

through pushing, pulling, shoveling, scooping, and pouring. it creates resistance

and pressure and inadvertently turns on those proprioceptive receptors in the

muscles and joints.

Boosts Immunity

Sand play is one the best way to expose your little one to beneficial germs,

coming in contact with this type of germ supports the correct development

of the immune system. so, in the future, they’ll be able to better protect and

defend themselves against disease and allergies.

Eases Anxiety

Playing in the sand has anxiety-reducing benefits, it

increases mindfulness of the present moment, calms the mind, and can help

children construct an idealized world to express their demands and expectations

for the future.

Remember the amir khan dialogue from the movie dangal, “Apni Matti ki

hamesha izzat Karna ... Kyun ki jitni izzat tum Matti ki karogi ... utni hi izzat

Matti se tumhe Milegi” which translate to, “Always respect the mother

earth…because of the amount of respect you give to your mother earth…you

will get that much respect back from mother earth”..which cannot be more true.