This is my first year teaching Pre-K and I am the only Pre-K teacher in the school. The rest of the EC teachers are in an annex 3 miles away! I'm on my own so I was wondering if you could help me with a method to introduce and manage a sand and water table. (It's double sided and the compartments are very shallow.) My para won’t discuss it with me because she doesn’t want to clean up the mess, but I went ahead and bought 25 lbs. of sand. I really want to open up this center for the kids so any and all advice will be appreciated.
I can sympathize with you re: your para not wanting the mess: mine is the same. What a bummer. Kind of in the wrong business if they don't like mess, huh? Anyway, I think you'll find that having a sensory table available is great! It gives the children who need to have a calming activity a good opportunity to release some stress and it's just fun!
As far as management-I only allow 2 children at a time at mine (it sounds like you have the same kind that I have) and I always put a non-slip drop tarp down for water with plenty of towels on hand. Before I allow the children to use it, we always go over rules for safety: keep water in the table, talk about slipping..., If it is sand, we talk about keeping the sand in the table and how it can hurt if sand gets in your eyes (same with shaving cream). I also recommend having child-size brooms and dust pans available so that children are responsible for clean up.
Here are some of the most popular items that I have used in the table: dry beans, rice, cornmeal, wood shavings, styrofoam packing peanuts, fake snow, leaves, seeds, snow, and bird seed. You can add a bit of water to the sand for better packing sand to make castles, etc... I have some great letter molds for sand. (I got them from Really Good Stuff.com). Also, you can find water color tabs (used for the tub) at Target/Wal-mart in the toy section to tint the water. I put a tiny bit of bleach in the water to keep germs at bay (not enough to stain clothing!).
Fun things to add to table: any kind of plastic creature (dinos, animals, insects), foam letters, magnetic letters (give magnetic wand and the children have to sift through and the letters attach), spider rings, laundry scoops, funnels, strainers, shovels, small rakes, little watering cans,... that's all I can think of at the moment! Have fun!
You can also dye rice or pasta. Google it for an exact recipe, but basically, you can add food coloring to rubbing alcohol and pour over rice or pasta in a gallon ziploc bag. Shake it around and then put on a cookie sheet covered in waxed paper until the alcohol evaporates. The color turns out really well - won't your para LOVE that mess. . . Also, I keep a mini broom / dustpan with my table and the kids can clean up their own mess (for the most part).
My kids' favorite thing in the table is moon sand. It's expensive, but it lasts for a long time and they love it - just an idea if you come into some money. . .
My sand and water tables are seperate. Actually I just use a rubbermaid tub on a small table for the water center. I only allow 1 child at the water table. Two can go to the sand table. Children must wash hands before playing in sand or water and then wash again when finished. We change the water in the tub daily. I keep two dustpans and small hand brooms under the sand table for the children to sweep up their messes. They throw the sand away and don't dump it back in the table.
Thank you everyone for your great advice. I'll be trying out these ideas after Thanksgiving. (Too bad there isn't a more stringent screening process for paras. I had a substitute para for two days and she was great. She made the days flow right by.)
We have also put a few squirts of liquid Ivory dish washing soap in our water table. At first it just looks like water, but as the children play and pour, bubbles start to appear. Just a little makes a lot of bubbles and the kids just have a blast!
11-21-2009, 04:22 PM
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