For our ninth activity filled with stars we added sea stars to our sand play.

Children have always been intrigued by sand play. They dig in sand, sift it, build with it, pour it, enjoy the feel and smell of it, pretend with it, and explore how it moves. Balke (1997) contends that, “The culture of children is threatened by mass media and overproduction of plastic playthings that are ready-made and demand nothing of the child” (p. 358). Sand, on the other hand, is well-suited to the explorative and imaginative nature of young children.

Esther and William love to play in the sand. In the summer months we have our sand pit open every day in the garden, during the cooler times we use the Tuff Spot for when we feel the need for sand.

This time our Tuff Spot Sand Pit started in the playroom but the last few days have been so beautiful and balmy that we have taken our Tuff Spot and our sand play outside.

I set up this starry sand play by burying some stars in the sand for Esther and William to find. On top of the sand I lay two sea stars, star fish. I gave Esther and William each a Twigz gardening tool kit that works perfectly as a set of tools for sand. Esther and William were instantly drawn to the bright colours. They immediately started digging and raking the sand. Searching for stars.

Sand is such a simple sensory material. You can buy play sand from most toy shops and supermarkets. Any play you create in a sand tray, sand pit or Tuff Spot can be recreated at the beach. And vice versa.

Sand is great fun used wet or dry.

Our sand for this adventure was quite damp. It was great for making patterns in, for moulding shapes and for tyres to leave tracks.

Esther and William love letters at the moment, so I introduced letter moulds to our play. They loved printing in the sand with them, filling them and making letter sand castles, they tried to make their names and labelled stars and minibeasts with their initial letters. We had a lot of fun in the sand with letters.

The Twigz First Gardening Kit comes with a great size bucket. Esther and William used it to store letters and creatures in that they were not using in their play. They also enjoyed filling them with sand and emptying them again.

Esther and William love open ended play. Often I will set up a scene or provide the intial props for their play and then they will start to introduce new things.

This play started with pink and purple stars hidden in the sand like treasure, star fish on the top perhaps guarding the hidden stars and the tools they needed to search in the sand.

It was Esther and William’s idea to then add mini creatures, insects, letters and lollipop sticks.

They wanted to use them to make shapes with and to stick in the stand to show where they had buried treasured stars of their own.

We have had so much fun with our sandy Tuff Spot and we still are.

The stars gave a new angle to our play and sparked lots of hidden treasure play in the sand and around the garden.

Another lovely activity inspired by Oliver Jeffers’ How To Catch A Star.

Tomorrow I will share our tenth activity and give you a chance to win your own copy of this magical 10th anniversary edition of a very starry book.