Unplugged #4: Sand

Another long week and I finally managed to set up our Sand project for this week's Unplug Your Kids at the last moment. On first thought, I wasn't entirely sure how we could adapt sand for a kid who is a little too young for a sand box. But, remembering the classic sand drawing pendulums at the science center, I decided to recreate one at home.


I have to admit that I am certainly not stocked for crafty activity here, but I managed okay with some yarn, paper, and tape. Bella and I went on a hunt in the neighborhood for sand and we found some on a street corner, which I promptly took home and sifted to clear out the bark mulch. The best part was that I could use my kitchen strainer and no one could complain about me taking it outside to play since it's mine and I'm the mom. Bwahahahahah!

So I rolled two pieces of paper into a funnel, threaded some yarn through holes in the top, and hung it from a planter hook on our porch. I centered a table under it, and covered a board with paper (we didn't have any poster board, but we needed the paper to be stiff) so we could see the pattern, but still dump the sand back into the funnel easily between turns.

After finding a good height for the pendulum funnel and making the hole big enough, the games began! Dave started with a pattern that looked a bit like Saturn.


Then Bella got into it and tugged at the yarn.





Then we switched and she stared at the funnel as it whooshed the sand out. She really enjoys watching faucets and things that make noise visible, so I'm sure this was right up her alley.




All in all it was a good project. Easy to do, not too time consuming, and Bella created her first artwork!