Around the Nursery: Part 1, Sand and water - Making progress

Download the PDF of this article

For years, settings have set up sand and water play, and in this time, children have enjoyed scooping sand into buckets and pouring water in and out of bottles.

With the new Education Inspection Framework (EIF), which came into force this month, the question that all practitioners should be asking is whether or not their sand and water provision is sufficiently challenging and providing children with varied learning opportunities (see below).

WHY CHILDREN PLAY WITH SAND AND WATER

It is useful to understand why sand and water hold such fascination for children and adults alike.

These materials both stimulate the nerve endings on hands and so provide constant sensory feedback, which for most children is pleasurable. This stimulation seems to increase arousal in the brain and so aids concentration, which is why these materials have such potential to support learning.

SUPPORTING DEVELOPMENT

Sand and water can support children’s development in various ways. Everyone working in a setting should know why sand and water are provided and how they are supporting both groups’ and individual children’s development.

It is not enough, though, just to rattle off the benefits of this play, as its impact on children’s learning and development is linked to how the play has been set up and the adult role.

While water, if properly supervised, can be used with all ages, babies and toddlers should not be given sand in case they ingest it or it gets in their eyes.

Personal, social and emotional development

Sand and water are materials that can be soothing and relaxing for children. While children can use them to play with or alongside other children, they are also materials that allow children to go into their own world a little.

At the end of a busy session or when a child has been upset, these materials can help a child to calm down and to be free of the pressure that group activity can place on them. The open nature of these materials and hopefully abundance in a setting also means that there are opportunities for children of all ages to learn to be with others.

Physical development

Sand and water help children to develop fine motor movements, as well as hand-eye co-ordination. To support and further this development, think carefully about the resources that are put out alongside sand and water.

While babies and toddlers will find sponges challenging and interesting, four-year-olds may pick them up and then quickly lose interest. Older children will also enjoy feeling the weight of sand and water as part of their play, and in doing so strengthen muscles in their upper body and legs.

Language development

The open-ended nature of sand and water, and many resources that can be put with them, means that opportunities abound to develop children’s vocabulary. This does not happen automatically though; adults need to model the language.

With younger children, the focus is likely to be on naming the objects that they are using, along with some actions such as ‘splash’. As children’s language develops, adults will need to model increasingly specific language during play such as ‘full’, ‘empty’ and ‘submerge’.

Once children are talking well, adults also need to give children opportunities to describe what they are doing, as well as to use their planning and problem-solving skills. Varying resources as well as how water and sand are presented are key in helping children of all ages to learn new vocabulary.

Literacy

Sand and water play can support literacy, but some thought needs to be given as to how. First, offering shallow amounts of dry sand with brushes, or damp sand with sticks, can provide opportunities for mark-making.

With four- and five-year-olds, you can link sand trays to treasure maps or hide messages in bottles in the water tray. There are also opportunities to link sand and water play to books such as Spot Goes to the Beach, or In the Swamp by the Light of the Moon by Frann Preston-Gannon.

Mathematics

Sand and water play provides plenty of mathematical opportunities provided that resources are thought about and appropriate. Simple things such as drawing a line on a water bottle to indicate half full, or putting out five ducks with numerals on their bases, can create mathematical opportunities.

Having said that, children need adults to draw their attention explicitly to the mathematics within their play. Adults can comment as children fill up different-sized bottles or model counting as they play alongside putting scoops of sand into a bucket.

Sand and water can also be used for mathematical games with three-, four- and five-year-olds. Games such as ‘find the short straw in the sand tray’ or ‘guess how many shells teddy has hidden’ are then sometimes absorbed into children’s self-initiated play.

Understanding the world

Sand and water are key elements in our world, so there are numerous possibilities for children to learn by using and observing them.

While babies learn just from splashing or sitting in water, two- and three-year-olds can begin to explore the difference between dry and wet sand, as well as ice and water. Older children can benefit from adult-led activities such as measuring rainfall or noting where ice forms. Water is also vital in nature. While toddlers love using watering cans to randomly water things, older children can learn to touch soil and note whether or not plants need watering.

Expressive Arts and Design

For babies and toddlers, exploring water and later sand links to learning about media and materials. For older children, we may see them expressing themselves and even performing as they use sand and water as props for their role play or small-world play.

WAYS OF PROVIDING SAND AND WATER

While water and sand trays have their place, they are just one way in which children can experience these materials. Every variation as to how they are provided has the potential to influence a child’s play, thus encouraging them to develop new skills and ways of thinking.

In terms of the new Ofsted inspection framework, thinking about how you provide for sand and water is linked to both Intention and Implementation under the new judgement, ‘Quality of education’.

The ideal is to have a range of sand and water opportunities. This is likely to help children who have developmental needs, and also interests. You could think about this as a curriculum or simply as a journey that you take children on, so by the time they leave you they have experienced sand and water in a variety of contexts.

Types of resources

Buckets, trugs and saucepans provide opportunities for children to experience sand and water at some depth. Different sizes of containers grouped together are particularly fascinating for children because they can explore different volumes of sand and water. Older children will use these as props in their wider role play.

Paddling pools, baby baths and large trays provide opportunities for children to experience sand and water with their whole bodies. Children can sit in sand and water and also cover themselves with it.

Both water and dry sand can be channelled through chutes. This is the principle of guttering, but also the sand timer. Children love watching how water flows, and this can progress into children using chutes and drainpipes to create their own waterways.

Small quantities of sand and water in roasting trays, cat litter trays or small Tupperware containers can be interesting for children when put alongside small-world play. They can also provide opportunities for children to play by themselves.

Water butts and water carriers with taps are of huge interest to children largely because the tap enables them to control the flow of water and fill containers such as watering cans and buckets. Toddlers love learning to open and close the tap and then transport the water.

Using water to spray and squirt things is fascinating for toddlers and older children. While terms and conditions need to apply, it is nonetheless another way for children to explore water.

Mix it up

As well as making sure that sand and water are presented in a variety of different formats, it is also worth thinking about the resources that are put out alongside them. Carefully chosen, these can give children more challenge as well as help them see new play possibilities.

Auditing resources

Audit the resources that you have available for sand and water from time to time. Sand toys and resources do become scratched after a while and so may lose their appeal. Others such as sponges simply deteriorate over time.

Auditing resources can also prevent the build-up of too many ‘samey’ resources that take up space while not really earning their keep. It is also worth ‘grading’ some resources according to their potential level of challenge – for example, you should have some bottles or containers with narrow necks for children who can fill wide-necked containers with ease.

Less can be more

There are no rules as to how many resources should be put out at one time. An ‘enabling environment’ does not mean that everything has to be out at the same time. Observing children is often the best way of knowing whether there is sufficient choice, but also novelty.

Sand and water should, in theory, help children of all ages to concentrate for long periods, but if there is too much out, some children can be overwhelmed. Others lose interest because they have seen it all before. It can be useful to have a plan to ensure that a wide range and also combination of resources are giving children the variety they need.

Layering resources

A useful way of enhancing and developing sand and water play that works well with toddlers and also some older children is to begin by putting out resources that channel children’s play – for example, spoons and cups for a toddler.

The adult watches the play and then adds a couple of resources, such as a rubber duck and ladle. The adult observes to see if these too are of interest to the child. This can be seen as layering resources so that children can maintain interest and enjoyment in their play.

Creating a narrative

Older children often want to create a narrative as they play. Recognising this as it is happening or planning for it can make a huge difference to children’s learning and enjoyment.

Children might start to wash the dollies. To create coherence in their narrative, we might support their play by putting out towels, nappies, a hairbrush and additional clothes.

EVALUATING

The three buzz words of Ofsted in terms of the ‘Quality of education’ judgement are Intention, Implementation and Impact. Here are some questions to help you to reflect on sand and water play:

Intention

• Why are sand and water being provided?
• What are the intended benefits for individual children and groups of children?
• Why have you organised the sand and water in this way?
• What skills, knowledge or language are you hoping children might gain today?
• Do you have a plan as to how you will use sand and water to support learning?

Implementation

Is the sand and water play set up in ways that will help children to engage and learn from it? For example, is there enough water in the tray, and are the tools provided developmentally appropriate for the children?

Are adults interacting with children in ways that will support learning?

What strategies are adults using to draw children’s attention to vocabulary and concepts including number, shape, size and measures? Are they modelling, commenting and questioning in a way that is scaffolding learning effectively?

Are the length and quality of interactions sufficient to allow children time to think, respond and comment?

Do children have sufficient time to explore during their play?

Impact

• How long are children spending engaged in their play?
• Do children appear to enjoy and be challenged in their play?
• Do children repeat actions, ideas or language that have been modelled or introduced by the adult?
  
  

About this series

The new Education Inspection Framework (EIF), which came into force this month, introduces the judgement ‘Quality of education’ – comprising Intent, Implementation and Impact – and so provides an ideal opportunity for settings to reflect on their provision and practice.

What is important is that the new judgement reduces the focus on outcomes data and presents settings with the opportunity to prioritise the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of children’s learning.

The expectation is that settings provide an early years curriculum that is:

• broad, balanced and aspirational
• planned coherently to provide ‘progression’ and ‘stretch’, to enable every child to succeed.

This series takes practitioners on a walk through the main areas of continuous provision within a nursery, to help them reflect on:

• what they want children, across the EYFS, to learn
• how to support that learning
• the impact of that support
• how, come inspection day, they will articulate to inspectors what they are doing and why.

Part 2, on mark-making, will be published on 14 October.

NURSERY WORLD CONFERENCE AND SHOW

Join us at our Birmingham conference or Nursery World Show London to find out more about what the new Education Inspection Framework (EIF) means for you.

‘Delivering high-quality education under the new inspection framework: Intent, Implementation and Impact’, in Birmingham on 6 December, will focus on developing and delivering a broad early years curriculum that offers progression and challenge in children’s learning. Also on the programme are cultural capital, evaluation, inspection day, and workshops covering areas such as ‘core experiences’ for under-threes and communication and language. Speakers include Prof Chris Pascal, Penny Tassoni and Judith Twani.

At our London Show on 7-8 February, the masterclasses will focus on the new Ofsted judgements: ‘Quality of education’ (Friday) and ‘Behaviour and attitudes’ (Saturday). Seminar themes include how to ensure progression in children’s learning.

Other seminar themes include loose parts, observations, mark-making and raising children’s levels of enquiry.

For more information, visit: www.inspectionconference.co.uk/home and www.nurseryworldshow.com/london