Sand Tray – Montessori

Sand Tray with Clear Base and Smoothing Tool

For early mark making, creative work and early writing skills. To develop co-ordination, fine motor skills and concentration.

The impermanence of a picture or word drawn in the sand gives the child an opportunity to experiment freely with no sense of failure: they can quickly smooth the sand over to erase and re-try.

The clear base creates an ultra smooth surface and allows for brightly coloured backdrops to be placed in the recess beneath the tray. The abrasive nature of sand will scratch the surface over time.

Reading: children read and understand simple sentences. They use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately. They also read some common irregular words. They demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read.

Writing: children use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds. They also write some irregular common words. They write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others. Some words are spelt correctly and others are phonetically plausible.