A sand tray

I have been doing multiple versions of this over the years. the first one was an old aluminium/ baking tray, but the sand spilled out and got messy and had to be thrown after a couple of times.

The second one was a cardboard box lines with plastic and kept in the garden, but it didnt work out too well either. I wanted a sand tray that the children could keep coming to. And here it is

On the floor is an extra thick plastic recipient that I made by fusing several old plastic bags together and ironing them with a newspaper over the plastic to prevent sticking. The idea is to catch spills so that they dont go all over the floor.

The top is an old Toyogo shelf set. I covered the basket, which had holes (it was degined for the kitchen to hold onions) with sheets of plastic.

Yesterday morning, I buried some seashells in the sand and left it pout with a couple of shovels

In the afternoon, when i called, Patti mentioned that the kids had been in and out of the sand area several times and had dug out and reburied the shells.

In the evening, the girls made sand soup. Which, I gather, involves pouriong lots of water into the tray.

When I returned, the sand was all wet, as in very close to the sea water wet.

It will be interesting to see how the process of sand play evolves.