There’s good reason the beach is called ‘nature’s playground.’ In the open sea air, the world feels expansive, curious, and alive; imagination runs rife and anything is possible. Apart from the ocean itself, the bedrock of any childhood beach experience is the sand itself. Kids are entertained for hours searching for shells, building epic castles, and writing messages with their fingers before the waves come and wash it away. Sand is nature’s canvas for play.
In counseling settings, therapists often use sandplay as a non-verbal intervention that unlocks a different kind of storytelling. Though often used in therapy with children and adolescents, sandplay is for anyone; we never outgrow play. In sandplay, you use miniatures of all sorts to create worlds and build stories in a different and more curious way of self-expression.
The magic of sandplay isn’t just for therapy sessions. Building an at-home sandplay setup is easy and can be surprisingly affordable.
The key to building your sandplay collection is to take it slow. You can go so far with so few supplies in sandplay because the most important tool is creativity. If you have children in your home, you likely already have many of the supplies you need just laying around.
The main three things you need are:
- A sand tray (any flat, clear container with a lid will do – size is up to you)
- Sand (or rice to accommodate for sensory needs)
- Miniatures
In terms of miniatures, start with the basics first (the asterisked items):
After that, think outside the box! Any non-perishable item small enough to fit into the palm of your hand is usually perfect. A button? Perfect. An acorn? Add it to the collection. Tiny little random toys kids get at the dentist? Sandplay gold. A quick scan of a playroom will often lend itself to several forgotten items that will be excellent as repurposed sandplay miniatures. The quirkier an item is the better.
Other miniature items to be on the lookout for include words, fences, seashells, signage, miniature buildings/houses/furniture, fake flowers, and scary things.
Once you’ve slowly built a solid base of miniatures, you can start looking for more specific items. Goodwill, The Dollar Store, Hobby Lobby, Michael’s, or any craft store are usually great places to check – especially after holidays when so much is on sale! Hobby Lobby has a brand called Mayberry Street Miniatures that has all sorts of creative and unique items. Etsy is a good, albeit pricer, place to search if you have a very specific miniature in mind.
Once you have your miniatures, kids tend to prefer they be sorted by category rather than mixed all together. Find a basic sorting system (e.g. people, animals, nature, things) that feels easy and sustainable for you. Storage doesn’t have to be fancy – gallon-size Ziploc bags can do the trick.
There are two simple rules to sandplay at home: keep the sand in the box and use your imagination. There’s no way your sandplay collection will ever grow to include every item in the world. But that’s not a problem because in sandplay, a marble can represent a basketball or a diamond or the concept of friendship. A giraffe could be Uncle Bob and a toothpick can be a flag.
From there, you’re all set. The setup is simple by design because the real main character in sandplay is imagination. Like the truest form of sandplay at the sea, there’s no right or wrong way to play. In fact, in the sand, the world truly is your oyster.