The Sand Mountain

We have a HUGE outdoor playground. It has an "L" shape, with one half being used by the 4's and 5's classes, and the other being used by the 1's, 2's, and 3's. Our sandbox is right in the middle.

Lately, our sandbox has been getting kind of low.

My directors scheduled for a fresh new load of sand to be delivered this week. Luckily, it happened to be when my class was on the play ground. They knew the sand truck was coming, so we picked a spot to watch (out of harms way, but still close enough to see everything.

We watched him back into the playground, all the way to the very edge of the sandbox (cracking the sidewalk in the process), and dump a large mound of sand.

It was all very exciting. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of the sand being dumped, but I had my wits about me when the sand truck left, and the kids got to work on the "mountain," as they called it.

EVERYONE joined in.

The kids experiment with different ways to go down the mountain.

 Jumping.

Running. And if you look in the background, you'll see Braeden preparing to get a running start to go up the mountain.

Sliding.

And rolling!

Shoes came off, and feet disappeared into the sand.

It was a hot, Arizona day, so I'm sure the sand felt nice and cool all around her legs.

I tried walking on the mountain too, but I was quickly told, "Ms. Gina, please get off our mountain!"

Teachers have no fun!

Right after this, we went inside for lunch and nap. During nap time, two teachers leveled out the sand, and returned the sand toys to the sandbox. It turns out, we were the only class that got to play on the mountain. :)

This activity:

• Helped build strong muscles: It took a lot of effort to climb a mountain in which your feet sink into. I saw many children digging, burying, jumping, running, and rolling...experimenting with what their little bodies could do! 
• Encouraged Cooperative Play: Lots of little bodies in a small space requires some negotiating. When over-eager boys accidentally jumped on a friend, or rolled over another person, there was some apologizing done. This was a great lesson in personal boundaries and manners (once they figured out they were hurting others, they remembered to say "excuse me" before entering someone's space, and to ask before jumping on others: "Can I jump over you?")

Happy playing!