Whilst I was busy with the burrowers playing in our sand tray, I wondered how I could change the original, grainy wet sand into something more exciting. In the past in a previous setting; washing up liquid was accidently added to the sand and water, which produced an unusual feel and texture. I thought I would try it again at Free Rangers. AJH and I filled our tray up with sand, and washing up liquid out of our kitchen as well as adding a small cup of water. We poured it all together and gave it a good mix using our hands. The texture of the sand became soft, smooth and foamy, almost irresistible to touch. AJH, ECG, SY had their hands right in, whilst others were quite inquisitive about it.

I wondered how I could make it more appealing, as well as to further develop the children’s interest, we added some blue and white paint which made it have a lovely marble effect to begin with, but by the end it was the colour of concrete!!

We then took the concrete looking mixture outside much to the Den children’s interest as they flocked around and asked lots of questions, mainly “what have you made?” and when I replied with “It’s sand”, they looked at me in complete amazement! Before long everyone had their hands elbow deep in the tray exploring the feel of the mixture, and it wasn’t long before our wooden car was decorated in it!

Go on give it a go, here’s the recipe:

- Sand! (However much you fancy)

- A few good squeezes of washing up liquid

- Splash of water

And there you have it! Trust me, it is irresistible!!

Nicola