We love playing with coloured sand & were excited to find it in our local Early Learning Store. The bags of sand we used were rather big so we decanted some of the sand into empty bubble bath bottles. We sealed these with several layers of sticky tape, & made a small hole in the centre of the tape with a skewer to allow the sand to flow steadily without it pouring everywhere!
I've since bought these 'stylish' containers which are perfect for dispensing sand & paint! Just don't get them confused at the dining table!
I set up a messy play area with a pot of gloopy glue (PVA), brushes, card, coloured sand, shells, twigs, & pebbles! When there's an opportunity to play with gloopy glue Minnie is one happy kiddo!
A very excited Minnie started off by brushing the glue onto the card & pouring over some of the green sand. (She added the items to the sides of the card to help hold the card in place, I love her thinking!)
Then using a shell she began to scrape a design through the sand to reveal the coloured card underneath.
This technique was popular with Minnie, & she used all the objects including the paintbrush to make patterns in the sand. (Great for exploring mark making & manipulating tools)
Soon the glue was painted on her hands! I guess this was inevitable as whenever paints & brushes are out Minnie loves exploring the textures with her hands.
So with the gloopy glue handprint on the card & a little sand added we ended up with...
... a beautiful tactile handprint!
And as this was so much fun my little artist made a few more. I love the way she framed this one with the sand.
Minnie then spotted an apple on the kitchen counter & wanted to 'glue' with it. I cut it in half & she was printing again. She added sand after each glue print which is why the prints are a selection of colours.
Minnie loved painting 'invisible' letters/pictures in the glue, & then finding them again when she added the sand. This was a great game with lots of giggles!
We soon ran out of glue, & I was about to refill the pot when Minnie decided she wanted to do some drizzle painting (in the same way she made this canvas). On my! How the glue flew! I am very glad I was prepared before this activity & covered the area, thank goodness gloopy (PVA) glue peels away from most surfaces!
Armed with the sand once more Minnie set to work creating her patterns.
We left them to dry over night, & once the sand was hard Minnie was keen to colour the patterns in. The raised outline of the pattern enabled Minnie to colour in each section without going over the edges.
I had a go at painting with the drizzly glue too, it looked so much fun I couldn't resist! Minnie did a grand job colouring it in.
Gloopy glue & sand, what a great creative combination & perfect for exploring textures, hand-eye coordination, fine motor moves & more.