Future Civil Engineer
When children play with sand, water and equipment, they learn to explore and experiment with textures and the effects of gravity.
Children develop coordination, concentration and creativity through building and constructing.
Opportunities for teamwork happen when children work together with others on projects like digging holes or trenches or making piles. Children explore concepts such as heavy versus light, float versus sink, full versus empty and shallow versus deep: as well as learning about measuring and estimating.
Playcentre resources can include
A large Sandpit in a sunny sheltered position
An adequate supply of clean sand
Tools for scooping, tunnelling and digging including spades, scoops, shovels of varying sizes.
Containers for filling, measuring and carrying. For example, buckets, basins, pots, plastic containers, funnels, sieves, and colanders
Sturdy and durable vehicles for loading, moving, making roads and extending imaginative play. e.g. tip trucks, sand rollers, bulldozers, tractors, and cars.
Sit-on diggers.
To extend roadworks and construction learning – flat boards for roads and bridges; cranes, excavators and small reels.
To create lakes and rivers – sheet plastic, drain tiles, off cuts of plastic piping, downpipes, guttering, water trough
Leafy branches, wild flowers, shells and driftwood.
Rakes for patternmaking
Sand moulds
