Activity description: You would need to get the resources ready and then prepare them.
Now when the child starts to play you would ask them “how many castles are you going to build” because it will get them thinking about it. Then they could start to build it and if it falls or collapses tell them about adding water to make it hold better. The child would be interested and if you start to ask about surroundings they might not know what to do so you could show them stories and pictures about castles and then could design their own. They might want to put trees, moats and defences around the castle.
How the activity supports intellectual development.
‘In play, the child always behaves beyond his average age, above his daily behaviour. In play, it is as if he were a head taller than himself.’
(Vygotsky, 1978)
Imagination: A child would need to imagine what the castle looks like what surroundings they shall add. The surroundings for example moats, sand mountains, toy tree, flags, soldiers, or even animals, can stimulate imagination. They can also make up a story to go with what they are building.
Concepts: The child is developing mathematical concepts through the activity. The pattern and designs that the child makes up when he build the sand castle and objects around it, like paths tree’s etc or even adding water to the sand to make it firm. The child will learn things like full/empty, Heavy/light, numbers, textures and size.
Concentration: They child would have to concentrate on the sand to build what they want, although this wont be hard because the child will enjoy what they are doing and concentration will come naturally. The children will be interested on all the things they can do with the sand and the water mixed together how big they can make the castle etc. This will get their concentration as they will enjoy finding new things.
Memory: Remembering what a castle looks like in the first place is the main thing a child will remember. You could also improve this by letting them read a children’s book about castle or watch some videos about it. That way they’ll be more interested in making one and concentrate better as they are trying to remember and use their memory. They could look at pictures or do drawings of their own first.
Problem solving: If the castle kept falling apart the child might work out that it holds better when its wet and then he could add some more water then put it back in the bucket to try again. Also if the castle is made too big it might fall easily so the child goes for a smaller size instead, or maybe just make the base wider.
Creativity: The actual building of the sand castle is creative because the child is creating a castle and the surroundings. The story behind the castle on their own, and even though it’s a castle and lots of other people build castles it is not copying somebody else’s ideas it is an original thing as the child is choosing where everything is and so on.
How the activity supports Communicative development.
Speaking: When the child speaks to the practitioner supervising him/her they will be learning new language for example words to do with the castle, these could be names- the top tower, the moat. They could be textures the sand is firmer because we have added water, or even this is the biggest castle and this is a smaller one but the one over there is the smallest. Because the children are enjoying themselves while playing they find it easier to remember these words.
Listening: The practitioner as well as the child needs to listen because when the child listens they understands what to do, this makes the activity more fun for them. But the practitioner needs to listen as well not just to set the example for the child but to hear their personal needs to improve their play.
Writing: The child could write things in the sand for example their name, this would help in developing their fine motor skills.
Reading: This could be like developing discriminatory skills. Different flags for example. This helps them develop skills in recognising differences.
