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Build Your Child’s Imagination with Creative Sand Sensory Play

Sensory play such as this sand tray is amazing for building your child’s imagination.

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Lily adored this creative sensory play activity with some colored sand and her Safari Ltd Fairy TOOB® (Amazon link, although we purchased ours at Michaels with a 40%-off coupon) characters! As you can tell, the wings of these fairies sometimes fall off when they get a lot of play from an exuberant three-year-old, but she still likes them.

Build Your Child’s Imagination with Creative Sand Sensory Play

Sensory materials work wonders in terms of encouraging imaginative play. Lily loved making mounds of sand for the fairies to jump onto and dig under! Then we shook the sand out flat on the tray and she used it to make fairy footprints:

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We even got some letter practice in at the end – that is Lily’s name, written very small. Lily likes to write everything small.

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We have also done a version of this sensory activity with cornmeal, which is great if you have a child who still puts things in their mouth!

Sensory play is my favorite way to get my kids to snap out of a fussy mood on a tough day, and my kids adore sand sensory play. Especially when we use colored sand! How do you get your kids to refocus their attention?

MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.

20 thoughts on “Build Your Child’s Imagination with Creative Sand Sensory Play”

  1. I have been meaning to do a sensory activity with sand. I really think my son would love it! Putting it on my to do list right now!
    If we can get outside that always helps with our fussy moods. My kids also like yoga on Activity TV.

  2. Any kind of sensory play has always been a great way to calm my kids. I especially love activities like this after school if the weather isn’t cooperating for outdoor play.

  3. I love the color of that sand! I’ve done salt trays with my girls but they would love the vibrant color of this sand.

  4. Elisa | blissfulE

    Beautiful purple sand!! I like to pretend I’m a crocodile when we need to redirect at the end of the day. They throw scarves or other non-crocodile food and I make faces and spit it out of my croc-mouth (my arms). They think it’s hilarious!

  5. Love those fairy footprints! When my son is in a fussy mood, I have him go spend some time alone. Usually when he gets grumpy, it’s because he hasn’t had enough time alone. It works almost every time.

  6. Do your kids not just turn the tray upside down, dumping all contents? JC can’t seem to resist doing so.

    1. We’ve done this for years, and they never have! I think it’s a combination of their personalities and the fact that Emma was my first child, not Johnny :)

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