What To Fill The Sand Table With

[countrymom]

so I brought my sand table in, so what can i fill it with NOT SAND.

[Little People]

so I brought my sand table in, so what can i fill it with NOT SAND.

I read a thread where someone filled with cornmeal

[DCMomOf3]

Packing peanuts, small sorting blocks, rice. You can mix in small toys as well, hide little animals or other small toys in too.

You could also use it as a Playdoh table.

[blueclouds29]

You can use it as a sensory table too. With magnify glasses-- seashells, pastic bugs, leaves, or nature items. I've also colored rice different colors and then mixed it together. Cotton, sandpaper or bubble wrap works too!

[AfterSchoolMom]

Cotton balls are easy, cheap, and not messy!

[countrymom]

hmmm the sensory table sounds good, less mess. One year I did rice and I was picking it up everywhere.

[heyhun77]

Right now we have dirt, scoops, cups, washable animals, magnifying glasses, spoons, etc. in ours as and the kids have been playing farm. I'll leave it until the end of the month and in the final day or two I'll let them add some water to make it muddy and we'll have a Mrs. Wishy Washy day.

Other things I put in the sensory table (we call ours the "please touch table" because whatever is in there is meant to be touched and played with) including noodles, colored rice, water, sand, cornmeal, flour, playdough, woodchips, birchbark, I know there's more but that's what I can think of.

[AAA713]

We put a couple of different types of dried beans, play kitchen spoons, pots and pans. The kids had a blast with these!

[Kaddidle Care]

Cotton balls are easy, cheap, and not messy!

Ooooh I like that idea! We've used sand, rice and these colorful little plastic things - very small. They all made a huge mess. Dirt was the worst! Oh yuck!

Cotton balls... I like it!

[juliebug]

dried beans, corn (my kids love this), balls, snow (messy),

[GretasLittleFriends]

My son's preschool also used field corn and oatmeal, as well as the other things already listed. His favorite was the water. (And though it's wet, it cleans up well and doesn't stain...)

[Missani]

So far I've had (since September): cornmeal, oatmeal, potpourri, packing peanuts, white sand, rice (messiest), birdseed, popcorn (popped or unpopped-choking hazard for littles), water, snow (very fun but wear mittens), cotton balls, different types of noodles, woodchips, pet bedding (think hamster cage), dried beans and shaving cream. There might be more that I can't think of right now, though.

[SilverSabre25]

right now I have a bunch of scrap paper for tearing practice and I've been having them tear into the sensory table. They are having a lot of fun with it.

[Blackcat31]

We put a couple of different types of dried beans, play kitchen spoons, pots and pans. The kids had a blast with these!

I haven't looked into this to see if it is true or not but I went to a child care conference not to long ago that said NEVER use dry kidney beans for crafts, sensory tables or anything else because they are actually toxic! Not cooked ones, just dry ones......so I figured I throw this info out just in case..

I found this link...if you scroll down, kidney beans is on the list, click it and it will give the info...http://www.ucsfchildcarehealth.org/h...afety_tips.htm

[Symphony]

Also be careful with birdseed. Many kinds contain cayenne pepper which can burn little eyes!

We do dried beans, rice, corn, wood chips, dried leaves, pinecones, snow, shredded paper (from an actual paper shredder), paper scraps and scissors, wrapping paper and bows, dried noodles, cooked noodles (with a little oil to keep it from making a big sticky ball!), soil and shovels, cotton balls, fruit loops and skewers to lace, ice, cool whip, pudding, cornmeal, crepe paper, tubes-pvc pipes, straws, painter rolls.

I often will have a week with one kind of beans like white and a week with small black beans, then the third week we will mix them together. This gets a little more time out of the activity.

I also try to change the material without having to switch it out. Such as we'll do cornstarch peanuts for a week and then on the last day, I'll pour in some warm water and let them make mush.

Probably the biggest hit here is super easy. I fill my sink with warm water and a bunch of baby bath soap. Then I skim the bubbles off the top and put them in the table. They LOVE it and it really is not very messy.