Children naturally gravitate towards sand and water play; this activity incorporates the use of both. Give your child an opportunity to increase their familiarity with shapes and their properties through conversations and drawing in wet sand. 

What You will Need 

Process 

 

Engaging with Your Child 

Providing sensory-based learning experiences benefits children in many ways. It provides children with an opportunity to use their sense of touch to be creative, all while focusing and engaging for a lengthier time. You can begin the activity by creating a shape in the wet sand by using the drawing utensil. Name the shape you have created and point out the properties of the shape, for example, “I just made a square, I’m going to count how many sides it has – 1, 2, 3, 4. The square has 4 sides”. Encourage your child to make shapes in the sand. If they are not familiar with shapes, support them by naming the shapes they created. Next, strengthen your child’s hand-eye coordination by manipulating the sand with a drawing utensil. Children love when you’re an active participant in their learning, by modeling techniques, you help motivate your child to imitate the skill that you’re trying to exemplify. 

 

Extension of this Activity: After each shape your child has drawn in the sand, ask them to look around your home to find an object with the matching shape. This will deepen their understanding of the differences between two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes.