With the weather warm enough for some outside fun, but not yet hot enough for the backyard toddler pool, playing in the sandbox seems like a good alternative. There are many kindergarten readiness skills that kids can learn and practice in the sandbox. (Once kids have learned not to eat the sand, that is!)
I’m not sure why digging in sand, scooping it up, filling a pail and then dumping it out is so appealing to kids but they do it over and over. There’s lots of science learning taking place. Kids are learning to observe what happens and to make predictions about what will happen next. For instance, they see that when poured the sand makes a cone shape. Like water, dry sand does not keep the shape of the container, but flows out. They check how high they can pile the sand before it flops over. A little bit of water changes how sand behaves, creating all kinds of questions and figuring out. Observing, predicting and questioning are powerful strategies for all kinds of learning.
Do you remember the book All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten? To quote Robert Fulghum: Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile….” What else can kids learn when playing in the sand?