Gluing Sand to Paper

Sweet Pea is 27 months old.

From: I saw a glue stick next to us while we were drawing in the sand tray and thought, “Hey, why don’t we try gluing the sand onto some paper?”

Material:

• Non-toxic sand.
• A box or jelly roll pan to hold the sand.  It needs to be wide enough that your tot can dump sand off a piece of paper into it.
• Glue stick. (We really love this Crayola one.)
• Paper

Procedure:

• Show your tot how to draw with the glue stick on a piece of paper.
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• Demonstrate picking up a handful of sand and sprinkling it on the glued paper.
• 
• Pick up the paper and dump the sand off into the box.
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• Show your tot the “drawing” they made with the sand.
• Let your tot try for themselves when they are ready.
• Clean up when you are done and make sure to wash all of the sand off your little one’s fingers so it doesn’t get in his or her eyes.
• After your tot goes to sleep for the night, throw their drawings away to prevent sand from falling off and infiltrating all areas of your house. (Or cover it in contact paper, but we don’t save a lot of “artwork” around here.)

Observations: Sweet Pea loved this so much.  She kept saying, “More paper.  More paper!”  Although this is messy and requires close supervision, it was a really entertaining activity.  I think she would have done this for at least an hour if hadn’t stopped her.  (I started worrying about the toxicity of the sand I was using.  Read the ‘Notes from the Trenches’ on my sandbox drawing post for details regarding my thoughts about the type of sand I bought.)  She was very unhappy when I told her that we had to stop.  I can’t wait to buy some new non-toxic sand and do this again with her.

Notes from the Trenches: As with my other sand activity, I wish I would have put down newspaper under the table first.  There was sand _everywhere_ when we were done and required a vacuum to fully clean up.  Part of the problem was that Sweet Pea was just so fascinated by the texture and color of the sand.  She just liked rubbing her hands in it, and of course it got everywhere.

I mentioned this already, but it is worth repeating that the sand doesn’t totally adhere to the paper once the glue is dry.  Bits of sand will keep falling off every time something brushes against the paper.  I advise that you either throw these pictures away or cover them with clear contact paper.

Rating: 3 Stars * (Fun, Easy, Independent)