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• Imaginary Play
• Out of School Hours activity
• Physical Play
• Play with Equipment/Props

Details

At School 15

Players: 5
Girls
Age: 11

Several large holes dug. Soft toy fox involved. Children are playing at foxes and meerkats. Children call out 'Predator! Predator!', crawling around, climbing into sand holes, curling up. One child carries toy fox in her mouth (mother and cub).

Also - various other forms of random play and game negotiation, some including boys. They used the pit to play long jump, which would result in arguments about measurement, etc.

At School 11

1)

Players: 4
Girls
Age: 7 and 11

Making sand Rocks. The girls were using the damp sand to mould the sand into a rock shape and then placing them into a pretend container, a flattened area of sand.

2) Played at OSHC.

Two girls apparently play this game regularly, almost every afternoon in the shade of the tree in the sand. They sift the sand and then fill up a variety of implements.

Players: 2
Girls
Age: 7
plastic cups, saucers, plates teapots, sieves

This activity was observed in Outside School Hours Care (OSHC). The school day finishes at 2:35pm. The children are in OSHC from 2:35 to 5:30pm

At School 01

1)
2 Players:
Boys
Age: 7

Digging a hole with spades to make a castle and find treasure

2)

2 Players:
Girls
Age: 9
Props: plastic buckets and spades and sieves

Children scoop up sand with spade and sift it through plastic sieve. Small stones are caught in sieve and tipped into a container.

At School 02

Players: 9
Boys and female
Age: 6

There is much digging and 'patting' of the sand in the pit. One construction is a bridge.

Note that at this school one of the sandpits is covered, and the sand is moist underneath so the sides of the holes were stable and didn't cave in. This is in contrast to the sandpits at the far end of the top oval which are in full sun, and the sand is dry and impossible to shape into anything.

At School 04

Players: 12
Boys
Age: 6

Play involving toys provided, including shovels, buckets, rollers and diggers. The play imitates the functions of the equipment represented by the toys. (Map Ref: J)

At School 08

Players: 1+
Boys and female
Age: 12

The sand easily overflowed the edges of the sand-pit and these students were digging holes in the sand either side of the sand-pit edge board until there was a tunnel underneath. This appeared to be the full extent of this activity. They specifically called the game 'Sinking Sand'.

Players: 4
Boys and female
Age: 6
Rubber Lizard and Sand

One of the students had a rubber lizard about 15 cm long, made of yellow rubber and when I found him digging in the sand he explained that he was making a home for his lizard and his friends were helping him. One of his friends was bringing some grey concrete dust from nearby and pouring scooped handfuls into the hole they were digging. This somehow made sense to them and they seemed pleased with the progress they were making.

At School 19

Players: Numerous 50-80
Boys and female
Age: 6-8
Props: include buckets, spades, sand

Kindergarten through preps up to year 2 inundated both sandpits - between 50 to 80 at any given point in time. The popularity would seem to have been atypical and due to the recent addition of fine white sand that had been delivered over the weekend and therefor was new to the children the same day we arrived. The principal explained that he had seen the sand at a dredging location and was able to arrange for a sufficient quantity to be given to the school. The sand was very similar to that which can be seen on the beach at the 'Bay of Fires', north of School 19 and is extremely fine and very white with an excellent consistency. The sand previously to be found in the sand pits was apparently a very coarse yellow sand which had also become very dirty. Therefore the popularity and associated excitement observed when we arrived can be attributed to these facts. They used spades and buckets and other implements provided by the school, including plastic trucks and other vehicles. They mainly filled the buckets, turned them over, patted the top (the bottom of the bucket) and gently lifted the bucket off to reveal the perfectly formed sand castle.

At School 03

Players: 3
Boys and Girls
Age: 5-9

Making 'marbles' in the sandpit. Ingredients: Sand, water, grass, leaves. Stirring with sticks. Pouring mixture into hole. Making paste from mixture.

Also

Players: 2
Boys
Age: 8-10

Playing with muddy sand mixture. "Let's put our hands in that cow pat."

Also

Players: 1
Girls
Age: 11

Crumbling dirt lumps with fingers

Also

Players: 5
Girls
Age: 10-11

Walking through sandpit, 'falling' in holes, squealing.

Also

Players: 5
Girls
Age: 10-11

Crumbling sand clumps into bucket with water. Stirring with a stick. Bucket hangs from tree branch.

Players: 2
Girls
Age: 10

Digging around bark on top of tree stump using sticks.

Also

Players: 8
Girls
Age: 9-12

Sandpit, digging holes, one girl 'making a ghost' in a bucket of sand and water

Also

Players: 2
Girls
Age: 8
Water play using bucket of water hung in tree above sandpit

Also

Players: 2
Girls
Age: 9

Trench for mudpies and mudcakes

Also

Players: 1
Girls
Age: 9

Sandcakes

Also

Players: 2
Girls and male
Age: 6

Girl and Boy in sandpit making mountains

At School 18

Players: 6
Girls
Age: 9-11

Kitchen, food production along bench. Ice cream flavours.

Also

Players: 3
Girls
Age: 9-11

Sandpit play. Food production: cakes, Mexican food. Half chocolate and half chilli. Castle cake, foot cake, sugar and spice cake.

Also:

Players: 4
Boys and Girls
Age: 9-10

Digging with sticks and throwing sand at each other.

Also:

Players: 2
Boys
Age: 8

Sandpit play. Digging and construction: Lizard land. Lizards eat 'gumnuts'. Sticks and twigs.

Also:

Players: 1
Boys
Age: 8

Digging under log sandpit border with stick.

Also:

Players: 4
Girls
Age: 7

Girls describe how they are playing "aboriginal games" in sandpit by filling bottles with sand and burying them in holes. Under Cyprus tree next to sandpit.

At School 13

Players: 3
Girls
Age: 10
Props: Leaves and twigs

These girls were creating sculptures in the sand and using collected leaves, twigs etc to make the facial features or to decorate the sculpture. They made animals and human faces.

At School 06

Players: 2
Boys
Age: 10
Props:

Play in long-jump sandpit using rocks to delve into sand. Rocks are named, one called 'Mini-Joe'. Also played in other sand pits at the school.

Also Rock Raiders' - a pretend game operating in sandpit using 'Leggo' pieces.

At School 12

Players: 5
Girls
Age: 10 -11

The girls were sitting in a circle, with their bare feet down inside deep tunnels they had dug in the sand. Each girl had dug her own tunnel, and some of them joined underneath the sand, making sand bridges between some of the tunnels. They were smoothing the surfaces of their tunnels, and being careful not to break them as they dug with their hands.
They were obviously enjoying the activity, and their conversation was related to what they were doing, comparing each other's tunnels and reminding themselves to be careful they don't break the sand bridges.
When asked if they play here often, one girl answered that on hot days they come here because the sand is really cool, and they like digging in it. They also come here to talk, but they usually run the sand through their fingers while they are talking, because it is cool and they enjoy doing it.

There was a group of five Age: One girls also digging holes in the sand on the other side of the tree. Occasionally one would come out from behind the tree to look at the tunnels dug by the older girls, or say something to them.

Also

Players: 5
Girls
Age: 6 -7

Five girls were working in the sand, in a little patch between the tree and the fences at the corner of the school. They were digging with large coloured plastic scoops, which are usually used for catching and throwing a light plastic ball around.
When asked what they thought they might find down there under the sand, they said 'Treasure', 'Rabbits', 'Dinosaur bones', and 'Nothing'.

COMMENTS: The Principal told me about a story circulating in the school that there was a trapdoor under the sand pit, and that if the girls dug too far down the trapdoor would open and they would fall through. The younger girls were scared of this story, and early this year one of the mothers (a Liability and Compensation lawyer) insisted that the sandpit be dug down to a certain depth, to prove that there was no trapdoor. One of the staff had the job of digging the sand out to about a metre deep, just to show that the trapdoor didn't exist.
The story had been circulating at the school for some time. It transpired that it had been made up by some of the older girls to scare the younger ones, and was just a playground myth until the parent took it seriously.
When I asked these Age: One girls if any of the older girls had ever said anything about what they might find in the sand, they said 'No', so that story has obviously disappeared from the playground.

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