Sandscapes for playful meditation

There is just something about sand that makes us relax...sand between our toes...sand flowing through our fingertips...sand in our shovels and buckets...it's just fun!

We love to play with our indoor sandscapes. It's easy and relatively mess-free. I've been impressed by the various creative scenarios that evolve from sandscape play.

You can get sand from a local beach (be careful of bringing sand fleas into your home, though, esp if you're in Southern Cal), your playground, or you can even buy it at crafting stores. If you have a nice wooden tray or bowl, that's optimal, but we just use baking sheets and whatever we have lying around to play with...nuts, shells, acorns, sticks, pine cones, and whatever little characters are lying around. The girls set up pine cone forests and they both love to use sticks to smooth out the sand. They have made patterns in the sand and even practiced letters in the sand. They usually play for hours with it and feel very satisfied when they are finished. It's a nice quiet activity where there is little room for battles or bickering as they are in such a meditative state, preparing their own unique sandscape with unlimited imagination.

"C" found this Rudolph deer in a xmas bin and wanted to make him part of her sandscape.

While "E" had fun using her stick to place some shells.

It's hard to see the image, but "C" designed this and was ever so proud of her shapes in the sand.

I'll have to take some better pictures next time. I admit, I got so engrossed in their play, that I neglected to capture the 'moment' just so...have fun in your playful meditation :)