The preschool sand and water table perfectly combines children's desire to play with their need to explore the world around them. As with most fun preschool activities, the sand and water activity center is a place where messes are a given. In fact, the messier, the better! It is also an opportunity for learning about different materials, creating science experiences, developing motor skills and sensory development. Sand and water tables are truly one of the most versatile pieces of classroom furniture. There are even compact sized sand and water tables that provide the same learning opportunities while taking up much less space!

A Few Fun Activities

Baking soda is an inexpensive material. It is finer than sand, and it has some magical chemical properties as well. Ask the children to compare how it feels to how sand feels or pasta or water. Provide them with measuring cups, spoons for digging, and sifters to move it around and manipulate it.

Let's Talk About Baking

Filling the sand and water activity center with baking soda provides you with the opportunity to talk about how it is used to make baked goods. Invite the children to think of yummy treats they like to eat that are baked in the oven. Help them decide which foods are made using it and which are not.

You can also use simple words to talk about chemical reactions and what kinds of materials will react with baking soda. This would also be a good time to discuss other uses for it like spreading it topically on the skin to soothe minor burns or insect stings.

Making Bubbles

Before you move on to a different material for the sand and water activity center, give each child a small cup of vinegar and ask them if they know what will happen when they pour it on the baking soda. They can employ all of their senses in this activity. They will delight in watching the bubbles form and listening to the fizzing sound that is made by the chemical reaction. They can also feel the bubbles, scooping up some baking soda in one hand and pouring more and more vinegar onto it until it completely dissolves.

Talk about the fact that vinegar mixed with baking soda creates carbon dioxide, a gas that people breathe out and that plants breathe in. When all of the baking soda is dissolved and all that's left is a sand and water table full of vinegar, ask the children if they know what happened. Ask them to tell you whether or not they like the smell of vinegar.

The sand and water table is a great place for exploration, experimentation and discussion. Although preschool children aren't ready yet to learn the intricacies of science and chemistry, they can understand simple concepts that they witness themselves, as in the case of the bubbles created by the mixing of baking soda and vinegar. Like sand, baking soda is also a fun material to manipulate and measure. It is a good medium for hiding and finding small objects, as well as practicing writing letters and numbers with fingertips.

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