There is nothing more simple and accessible,than sand play. It was played for many millennia ago, without thinking about the benefits of such an occupation. The sand painting reflects the emotional state experienced by a person at a certain moment, his inner world.
The opinion that this game is child's play is not entirely correct. Not only kids, but adults too often want to play it, either on the beach or in a specially equipped place.
Sand therapy is one of the areas of art therapy.Its essence lies in the effect of self-healing in the process of manipulation with this material. A sand painting seems to project a person’s mental state, since he builds it spontaneously, without thinking. The author of this method of therapy, Dora Kalff, said that everything unconscious is reflected in the sand. In the course of the lesson, a story is composed, a story, characters are arranged, castles and obstacles are built. In the course of remedial work, obstacles gradually disappear from the sand picture, helpers appear, this world seems to “calm down”, and the patient, be it a child or an adult, finds a solution to his problem.
Подобная терапия в работе с дошкольниками helps to reduce the level of aggressiveness and anxiety, because this material is soothing. Plunging his hands into it, passing between the fingers, the child feels its coolness, feels the warmth of his own hands. A preschooler who is not yet able to draw well, playing in the sand, can tell about his feelings and experiences. It is not by chance that if you observe how the kids behave in the sandbox, you will notice that someone is peacefully working on the “Kulichik”, building slides and castles with enthusiasm. And someone destroys everything in its path, scatters sand everywhere and destroys buildings. So children are trying to interact, not yet knowing how to speak.
A sand painting helps to shapecommunication skills, learn to negotiate and yield. In the process of joint construction, children learn to interact with each other, to cooperate. Having learned all this in the sandbox, they then transfer their knowledge and skills into real life.
The possibilities of this type of therapy are great.Drawing sand for children has a psychotherapeutic effect, allows you to deeply work out the situation. In the course of remedial work, the child’s attitude toward himself, to situations of the past, future, and present, gradually changes. Other narrow specialists can also use the elements of these classes: speech therapists and pathologists.
This type of correction has severalrestrictions: it should not be used when working with children with ADHD, if the child has allergic reactions to dust and small particles, pulmonary diseases, as well as in the case of skin diseases and cuts.
In other cases, the sand picture helps insolving a number of problems inherent in preschoolers. In times of crisis, the emotional background stabilizes, mood rises, anxiety decreases. A good helper is the sandbox when a child adapts to new conditions: kindergarten, school, relocation.
