Sand and Water: Back to Basics in the Early Years Classroom

There’s a moment I return to again and again when I walk into an early years classroom. It’s that familiar sound, the hush of children gathered around the sand tray, the soft splash at the water table, the quiet hum of deep engagement. It’s a reminder that, no matter how much the sector shifts, the essentials haven’t changed.

Sand and water.

Two of the most powerful, underrated tools in early childhood education.

Long before we talked about pedagogy frameworks, progress measures, or digital engagement, children learned through their senses. They explored the world one handful, one pour, one squelch at a time. And now, more than ever, there’s a growing call, a need, to take pedagogy back to basics.

This is where sand and water come alive.

Why Sand and Water Still Matter

When you strip everything back, sand and water sit at the heart of genuine early years practice. They don’t demand outcomes. They don’t perform. They simply invite children to explore, to test, to discover, on their terms.

They are sensory experiences children need

Children learn with their whole bodies. Sand and water meet them where they are, grounding, soothing, regulating. These materials offer a sensory experience that supports brain development, emotional wellbeing, and concentration.

They nurture curiosity and problem-solving

When a child pours water into a narrow tube and watches it overflow, they are experimenting. When they mix wet sand and realise it moulds differently to dry sand, they are thinking like scientists. They are forming hypotheses, testing theories, and adjusting their actions accordingly.

They support communication and relationships

Sand and water tables are social spaces. Children negotiate, collaborate, share tools, and build stories together. These moments of peer connection are the foundations of language, empathy, and social development.

They offer true child autonomy

There is no right or wrong way to play. Every action becomes a possibility. Every idea leads to another. Sand and water give children permission to lead their learning, not follow it.

A Short Early Years Classroom Story

Recently, during a visit to an early years setting overseas, I watched three children gathered around a water tray. No adult instructions. No laminated challenge cards. Just water, jugs, and space.

One child discovered that the small jug created a faster pour than the larger one.

Another quickly spotted that adding sand to the water made it cloudy, and started experimenting with different amounts.

The third child stood back for a moment, simply watching, before slowly dipping their hand into the water, as if processing what the others had found.

Within minutes they were all working together, filling, emptying, chatting, testing, adjusting. No adult intervention. Just deep learning.

In that moment, the Child in the Now model came to life: relational, attuned, present, responsive. Sometimes we forget that learning doesn’t need to be engineered. It just needs to be allowed.

Bringing Sand and Water Back to Basics: What to Include in the Classroom

Here are what I think are core essentials that practitioners can bring into the learning environment, simple, purposeful, and rooted in high-quality pedagogy.

1. A Variety of Containers

Different shapes and sizes help children explore capacity, volume, weight, and flow.

• Jugs

• Cups

• Funnels

• Bowls

• Plastic bottles

These items naturally introduce mathematical language: full, empty, heavy, light, more, less.

2. Tools for Manipulation

Children manipulate, sift, scoop, mould and pour.

• Scoops

• Sieves

• Spades

• Ladles

• Spoons

These strengthen fine-motor development and prepare children for early writing, without ever picking up a pencil.

3. Natural Items

Nature adds richness to sensory play and sparks storytelling.

• Pebbles

• Shells

• Pinecones

• Twigs

• Leaves

Children build landscapes, sort by texture, create stories, and engage in imaginative play.

4. Loose Parts for Open-Ended Exploration

Loose parts extend thinking and provide endless possibilities.

• Tubes

• Pipes

• Small trays

• Pots

• Wooden blocks

These help children experiment with flow, movement, cause and effect.

5. Simple, Meaningful Enhancements

The key is not to overwhelm. Enhancements should support play, not distract from it.

• Food colouring in water

• Ice blocks

• Glitter (if appropriate)

• Warm and cool water

• Wet and dry sand mixing

These elements help children make comparisons, predictions, and discoveries.

6. Space and Time

Often overlooked, but essential.

Children need uninterrupted time to return to their play, deepen thinking, revisit ideas, and develop mastery.

Allow sand and water play to stretch across sessions, across days, across weeks.

7. The Attuned Adult

Back to basics doesn’t mean “leave them to it.”

It means knowing when to step back and when to move in.

Adults notice, narrate, extend, and celebrate children’s thinking, not direct it.

Taking Pedagogy Back to What Matters

Sand and water remind us of the core truth of early childhood education:

meaningful learning is simple, rich, relational, and rooted in the child’s natural drive to explore.

When we strip away the noise, the pressure, the data, the expectations, we return to what is most powerful:

• Sensory learning

• Curiosity

• Joy

• Connection

• Time to explore

• Trust in the child

If we want to elevate the quality of early years practice, perhaps the answer isn’t in the next initiative, resource pack, or assessment tool.

Perhaps it’s already in the room, waiting quietly in the sand tray and the water table.

Back to basics doesn’t mean going backwards.

It means returning to what has always worked.