Category: Educational Materials

Delta Sand is soft and non-toxic light gray (almost white) sand that can be easily molded into mountains, castles, tunnels, cake and other objects around us. Originally from Sweden, this sand can be heated, painted and mixed with water and yet, return to its original condition when wetted, washed and dried, respectively. An effective substitute for real sand box in the yard, delta sand activities are good for sensory experience, hand and finger exercises and creativity improvement.

Delta sand are often used with other instructional materials. For example, when making ice cream, you can decorated paper cones and fill it with sand. When the topic is all about means of transportation, you can utilize backhoes and dump trucks. When you form a snowman, you can attach googly eyes, a pointed object for the nose and short textiles for the scarf. After making an umbrella craft, you can drop sand over it, as if it is rain or snow. When you want the kids to have a gardening lesson, you can dig the sand with gardening tools.

Playing with delta sand can be messy. Although it can be dusted off easily, it is wise to let students bring extra clothes. Be sure to allot time for washing hands and feet. After playing with the sand, place it inside a sealable plastic bag to maintain its quality.

Coming in different forms, sizes and colors, lego blocks are interlocked to build different objects. Most of the time, teachers need not instruct children on how to form vehicles, animals, natural entities, buildings, robots, etc. because when the blocks are presented to the kids, their imagination and creativity start to take the driver’s seat naturally. With this instructional material, children learn how think powerfully and improve their dexterity.

As a preschool teacher, you can play with lego bricks in two ways: as directed and as desired. Direct classes are usually facilitated to pupils ages 3-4. Considering their insufficient know-how, give them a basket with specific number of blocks to form the desired target. Demonstrate how to do it in front of them. When they reach the goal, you can give them more blocks so they may add their own design or create other things in mind. For older kids with high level of creativity, it’s not necessary to do this. You can just let them do what they want.

In a preschool classroom, you can also use lego blocks for other purposes. You can utilize it for teaching math (counting, sorting, classifying), art (lego mosaics), science (knowing whether it sinks or floats in the water), music (producing different sounds), etc. With innovation as your companion, you can discover more uses of lego blocks.

Origami comes from the Japanese words “oru” which means to fold, and “kami” which means paper. In simpler terms, it means the art of folding paper. An advantage of this form of art is it doesn’t need an innate talent like that of painting, drawing, etc. With only neatness in folding and patience in following the manual’s or teacher’s instructions, you’re already a soldier ready to take part in the battle.

This isn’t something new to us, as Japanese people have popularized this simple yet amazing activity. There are so many websites that offer paper folding instructions but I suggest that a book must be at hand. In that way, kids get to choose the object they want to fold. Interest is a key factor in being able to finish a task.

Origami can be very difficult for the younger ones. You might often hear four-year-old kids saying, “Teacher, I don’t know how to do it. Could you help me?” or “Teacher, could you show it again to us?” Sometimes, they end up not doing the activity or getting bored and crumpling their paper. As a teacher, you should carefully choose the origami activity for your class. It should be suitable to their age and capacity.