In this activity for kids, children will be using their fingers to make designs and letters in spring colored sand. Such a fun sensory activity for kids!

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Sand provides such a wonderful medium for sensory play. We used the same spring colored sand from our Drawing with Sand activity to practice making designs and letters in trays! (This post contains affiliate links.)

Spring Themed Sensory Play Using a Sand Tray

Start by placing a thin layer of sand onto your tray. (I found some spring colored plastic chargers at our local craft store that were perfect for holding the sand!)

Place your sand tray somewhere where you don’t mind a little mess. Our tree stumps in the backyard were perfect!

If your child is unfamiliar with this type of activity, you can demonstrate how to push the sand around with your finger. Although Theo has done similar activities (like our salt tray), he wasn’t quite sure how to erase his designs. I showed him and Miss B. how to give the tray a little jiggle to make a clean slate again.

Both Theo and Miss B. explored running their fingers and whole hands through the sand over and over. Miss B. focused on making drawings. Here’s her “monster hand”!

Miss B. enjoyed mixing different colored sand together in her tray.

I’m so glad I did this activity outside because the outdoor setting really allowed the kids to expand on this spring sand tray activity. Theo ran over to our nearby spring themed sensory bin and grabbed some split peas and a straw. He added these materials to his sand tray.

After awhile Theo and Miss B. decided to pour all the sand into our rock bowl to make rainbow soup!

I love the simplicity of this activity- so easy to setup! And it was SO fun observing the many ways the kids interacted with their sand trays.

Check out our ebook ABCs and 123s! You’ll find 40+ ways to encourage children to explore letters and numbers through play!