paint cut paste

our beach vacay has been full of fun… and art! today we tried sandcasting on the beach, which is something i’ve been wanting to do with N for a while now!

i remember doing this when i was in elementary school, but in a sandbox. in retrospect, i now see that my teacher that year was obsessed with the many uses of plaster of paris – fun year! my copy of Ecoart!: Earth-Friendly Art and Craft Experiences for 3-To 9-Year-Olds brought this sandcasting memory back to the forefront a while back, and we finally got around to doing it. we (now) west coasters are all the way on our home coast in the east right now, and since i wasn’t about to fly with the extra poundage that plaster of paris would create, my sister was kind enough to bring some down to our family vacation (via car.) today we toted it to the beach along with an old bucket, stick, and cups for measuring. we began by digging little holes. N discovered that twisting her fist into the sand created the perfect little cups for the small paperweights we were intending to make. she and her teenage cousin, G, created several of these pockets in the sand.

then N helped to mix the plaster of paris concoction. then she and her cousin chose shells to line the bottoms of the holes (which would become the decorative tops of our paperweights.)

i poured the plaster into the holes, hoping it would level off on top to be somewhat flat and smooth.

then we waited about 20 minutes for the plaster to harden. (it didn’t take that long, but we became engrossed in the task of digging a huge hole – not for plaster.)

meanwhile, our creations were becoming solid…

N came back to check on the plaster and for the big reveal.

score – beach treasures preserved!

the minimal clean up was great – we used old buckets and sticks that could remain plastered. hands rinsed easily in ocean.

the picture below was taken fresh off the beach, but after brushing these off with an old toothbrush, i think they’ll reveal a bit more shell detail. of course, N wants to keep her purple shell one for herself, and we will gift the others to family members who are with us on the trip. i know i’ll be nostalgic for our family beach vacation when looking at these next week, when we’re back to the grind — they make such sweet paperweights or tokens for a summer nature table!

one of the key features in N’s new playhouse is her sandtray. in basic terms, it’s a sandbox that is only big enough for toys and figurines; however, historically and therapeutically, it is so much more.

sandplay therapy was developed in the 1920s by margaret lowenfeld, md. knowing that children begin gathering information from their birth, before language developed, she believed playing in the sand taps into a child’s non-linear thinking process and represent thought, movement, and sensory experiences.

there are standard sizes and heights for sandtrays in the world of sandtray/sandplay therapy. i have a standard one for my therapy office (whenever i begin seeing clients again…) however, for the one we created in N’s playhouse, i just filled a stray wooden drawer with safe sand. (yes, i would recommend splurging on a 60lb box of safe sand, as it is free of carcinogens and silica dust, and those bags at toys r’us are not. plus, it feels goooood.) the standard ones are usually at a height where an adult client could use them while standing. i just put N’s drawer on on old coffee table we got off of freecycle. coffee tables are perfect play table height, but with more surface area than the kid tables you can buy. given that we just use a wooden drawer, we are not introducing water into our sandtray. (N has a water and sand table that is separate and okay for this sort of water play.)

to be fancy, i mod podged some cut pieces of N’s art work onto the front of the drawer. i was hoping to find a cool, rustic drawer, but this one was so basic and boring that it needed some jazzing up. N loves checking out the little images on it, too.

when she’s not playing, i place a board atop the sandtray. even though it’s in a sheltered space, i want to try to avoid little critters getting into the sand. also, i gave her a flat piece of cardboard (piece of a shipping box) and showed her how to smooth out the sand with it. her first reaction? “it’s just like a zamboni!” she looooves to zamboni her sandtray now. hee hee.

combining sand, toys, and water to create stories within a tray can mirror the child’s world. lowenfeld believes it is important to provide a variety of figurines for play in order to represent various archetypes — different sizes represent giant and small relationships, and different ages, races, sexes of people should be available for the child to choose from. queens, kings, armies, mothers, fathers, doctors, teachers, famous people, fairies, animals, plants, jewelry can all play a role in the stories that emerge. i was lucky enough to inherit some great sandtray figures from a jungian therapist colleague, but i am willing to bet that your kids’ toy bins are ripe with the perfect figurines.

natural objects (shells, gemstones, branches) are key parts of storytelling in a sandtray.

you can aid your child in creating environments by providing pieces of playgrounds, buildings, houses, fences, vehicles, picnic baskets, etc.

i’m in the process of figuring out a better way to display figurines for sandplay where N can have access to them visually, without having to think too hard or search too long for which ones to grab. curio shelves? hmm… right now i have the baskets you see above with natural materials and scenery atop the coffee table, beside the sandtray. then i put two plastic drawers below the coffee table/sandtray, separating the people figures from the animal figures.

sometimes how a child plays in the sandtray is more revealing than the scenes they create. pay attention to whether figures are overloaded into the tray or if they are placed strategically. every sandtray is unique to its creator, and begs for a story to be told. if your child is anything like N, s/he has vivid dreams s/he likes to tell, and the sandtray is an ideal environment to set up and reenact dream scenarios. while i completely realize you are not doing therapy with your child(ren) here, sensory experiences such as sandtray can be deeply healing to the psyche… and also incredibly fun!

i am dying to visit the sandtray room just north of san francisco, and just might go this weekend! (<—seriously, check the photo in that link – how cool!) i am excited to see the many zillions of sandtray set-ups and play that emerge in our playhouse!

i cannot peel her away!