I have been surfing around the net and I came across some cute ideas for my sand and water table. Yes, I'm lucky to have one of each. I want to make sure I keep students interested in playing in these areas. Also, I want to make my tables go with the seasons or what we are studying. Here is what I have in my tables right now.
Sand Table: I don't have sand in my sand table, but I am sure it did at one time. When I moved into my kindergarten classroom this year, this table was empty so I decided to change that. I noticed that I had lots of these puff balls in my classroom so I poured them all into the sand table. I added a few cloth bags for students to stuff with the puffs, some tongs and a few clothespins to practice picking them up, a couple of measuring cups, and some ice cream scoops from the Dollar Tree. The only things I bought were the orange and green ice cream scoops and the green handle tongs. All the other items were already in my room.
Water Table: Obviously, I don't have water in my water table. Unlike my sand table, I have a lid for my water table. I'm going to have to purchase one for the sand table to keep little ones from playing in it when we are lining up. I did purchase the items for this table, but they will be reused next fall. I filled my table with split peas. It took about 16 bags, but the bags were small and $1.08 each. I bought two cute little scarecrows, two cute little tin buckets, styrofoam apples, and decrative cheeries that I pulled off the wires to make the smaller apples. I bought these items from Michael's, then I bought a 3 pack of funnels at the Dollar Tree.
Let me just say, the kids really love playing at these tables and they are popular areas in my classroom during center time. I am so happy that kinder teachers are being encourage to do traditional centers in kindergarten now. I plan on changing my sand table soon to fit with a Halloween theme so come back and see what I do. Maybe I will inspire you.
