Sand therapy for preschoolers. Synopsis of correctional and developmental classes with elements of sand therapy: “An amazing journey. Preparation for the lesson

28.09.2019

Sand therapy is one of the areas of psychotherapy related to art therapy. Modern experts have developed several programs for training with sand, allowing you to solve many psychological problems for both children and adults. Sand therapy allows a person to get rid of the effects of stress, mental trauma, to feel confident in their abilities, and is also a means to relieve psycho-emotional stress.

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The potential of sand therapy for children

Classes with sand help the baby to be liberated, relieve communication difficulties (collective) and allow them to develop thinking, imagination and fine motor skills. Sand exercises help psychologists to understand the inner world of the child, to diagnose his mental state. Also, the technique of playing with sand has the following capabilities:

Possibilities	Characteristic
Relaxation and Calm	Tactile contact with natural material is a powerful means of psychological relief. Even a simple immersion of hands in a free-flowing substance will have a pacifying effect, evoke positive emotions. Babies aged about 1 year, who are not yet able to participate in educational games, can be shown the simplest exercise of pouring sand from one palm to another
Self-expression and creativity improvement	Drawing different pictures in the sand will allow the child to express their emotions and develop their imagination. The sand tray in this case symbolizes a "blank sheet" on which you can always start all over again. Sand painting classes with parents will strengthen the bonds between the child and the adult, will give an opportunity to better understand each other.
A way of expressing feelings	Not every toddler is able to express their feelings through speech. Sand therapy will help him with this. The parent, observing the actions of the child with sand, will be able to understand what the child wants to say
Formation of speech, thinking, fantasy	Play exercises will help the child to quickly form speech and thinking, develop attention and imagination. Learning to describe the painted pictures, the kid will learn the correct pronunciation of sounds
Diagnostics of the mental state	Competently constructed exercises with sand will be able to help not only the specialist, but also the parents to discern the inner messages of the baby, the reasons for his fears and problems.
Educational games	The sand tray is a great environment for educational games. The child learns to write, count, distinguish the shape and color of objects in a fun and playful way
Psychocorrection	With the help of a specialist psychologist, parents will be able to correct the behavior of their baby. Specially selected exercises will help him over time to change behavior for the better, eliminate difficulties in communication, learn to avoid conflicts

Children really like sand classes, however, remember that it can be unsafe. The child can swallow grains of sand, inhale them, etc. Therefore, preschool children should not be left alone while playing in the sandbox.

Indications and contraindications

There are situations when a child just needs to practice with sand. The indications for sand therapy are:

aggressive behavior, anxiety;
lack of communication;
stress associated with family relationships;
neuroses;
psychosomatic diseases.

There are also some contraindications for these exercises. These include:

epilepsy;
allergic reactions to sand;
skin diseases.

Sand Exercises

For full-fledged classes with sand, you need to purchase the necessary materials. These include a special sandbox table, quartz sand and small figurines of people, animals, plants, etc. A sandbox table is better made of wood. The tactile contact of the child with natural materials is important here. If this is not possible, the table can be made independently from wooden blocks. Sand (if quartz is absent) can also be replaced with river or sea sand. It should be shallow (so that it flows easily in your hands) and thoroughly washed.

Individual sessions

These exercises are used at home, in work with a psychologist, speech therapist, art therapist:

The exercise	Description
Fairy tale game	The exercise is aimed at developing the imagination and imaginative thinking of the baby. In the sand tray, there is an opportunity to act out both the child's favorite fairy tales and to invent new plots. An adult may offer to come up with a different ending to a famous fairy tale
Studying properties	With the help of sand, a preschooler can study the properties of materials, get an idea of \ u200b \ u200bthe concepts of "warm-cold", "wet-dry", etc. Get acquainted with geometric shapes by drawing them with your finger on the surface
Rain	The game is designed for relaxation and has a calming effect. Children aged 2-3 years should play with their parents. The adult invites the child to substitute his palm and begins to slowly pour sand into it, then asks the child to do the same with his palm. Older children play "Rain", pouring sand from one palm to another without the participation of their parents
Guess what it is	An exercise to help strengthen family bonds. The parent buries any figures in the sand while the baby is standing with his eyes closed. Next, the child by touch, immersing his hands in the sand, must determine what kind of figures they are
Breeze	You will need a cocktail straw for this exercise. Its end sinks into the sand, the child must blow from the opposite side. This game is for older children
Learning letters	The parent lays out letters or words in the sand (for older children), then hides the letters in the sand. The child is asked to find them and re-form the word or name the letters. Purpose: learning the alphabet, developing speech, tactile relaxation
Builder	The sand tray provides the kid with unlimited opportunities for building creativity. You can use figures and create a whole world in a limited space, and, by moistening the sand, build three-dimensional figures

In the sandbox, the child is a creator and creator, he makes decisions himself and puts them into practice. This is very important for building self-confidence, self-control and self-regulation.

Collective exercises

Basically, collective games are used by preschool educators. Their goal is to activate children, establish relationships in a group, create a close-knit team. Also, joint exercises help to relieve excessive stress and stabilize the psycho-emotional background in the group.

Most often, the following sand games are used in kindergartens:

The exercise	Description
Acquaintance	Purpose: to acquaint children with the material and its properties. Participants must stand around the sandbox. The teacher invites everyone to immerse their hands in the sand, stroke it, touch it, pour it from palm to palm. Along the way, the teacher must explain to the kids the rules of playing in the sandbox.
A funny story	The teacher lays out the figures in the sandbox in a certain order. At the same time it tells a story about these figurines. Then he hides them in the sand. Children should find the figures, arrange them in the same order, and retell the story. The game contributes to the development of attention, coherent speech. Strengthens team bonds
My city	The teacher invites the children to build their city in the sandbox the way they imagine it. Exercise promotes the development of imagination.
Come up with a fairy tale	The teacher invites children to come up with their own fairy tale. Figures of fairy-tale characters, trees and animals are used for the game. Also, the teacher can draw images of fictional characters that children will use in their fairy tale. Exercise develops speech activity, activates imagination, helps relieve psycho-emotional stress
Magic circle	The teacher invites the children to lay out a circle of stones, beads, etc. Each child is given several stones, which he will have to put in a common circle. Purpose of the lesson: correction of hyperactive behavior, reflection
Sand painting	The child draws (with his finger, brush) a picture in the sandbox and explains to the rest of the children what exactly he painted. Purpose of the game: development of speech, strengthening of friendly ties in a team, activation of communication

Since sand is a natural, environmentally friendly material, it is becoming more and more popular in childcare facilities. Sand play refers to a health-preserving technology aimed at preserving and stimulating the baby's condition.

Indications for sand therapy for adults

Sand therapy helps the problem to take on an external form. Creative classes help you to relax, throw out accumulated negative emotions, and express yourself.

age, value, personality crisis;
strained relationships with loved ones;
family problems;
parting with a loved one, divorce;
death of relatives and friends;
fears, panic attacks;
social conflicts;
psychosomatic diseases;
neuroses, mental disorders.

Based on the creative efforts of a person in a sandbox, a specialist will be able to draw reliable conclusions about his psycho-emotional state and help solve the identified problems.

Sand exercises

Such classes are used by psychologists for psycho-emotional unloading of the client, analysis and correction of his internal problems:

The exercise	Description
Meditation	The lesson is necessarily conducted with relaxing quiet music. It includes: drawing on dry and wet sand, creating a composition with various objects, pouring sand from various containers. The purpose of the exercise is relaxation.
Reconstruction	The psychologist invites the client to restore his life path with the help of figurines. At each stage, one should be used that personifies a person at a given period of his life. The purpose of the lesson is integration
Redesign	The specialist asks the person to think about what he would like to change in his life. The client should then use figurines to depict these changes in the sand tray. The purpose of the exercise is to identify internal problems.
Negotiation	The psychologist invites the client to negotiate between two figures in a tray of sand, to come up with dialogues. The goal is to identify social conflict
Passive-active	The doctor asks to select three figures that represent the patient's active principle and three - passive, placing them in the tray. It is necessary to build a dialogue between them. The purpose of the lesson is integration
Parallel world	A group activity suitable for a family session. Each person builds an imaginary world in his tray, then talks about it. The goal is to identify family problems
Event	The psychologist proposes to reconstruct with the help of figures an event that causes negative emotions and to play around with it. The goal is to help find a solution to the problem

No wonder any real or virtual model on which you can test all your ideas without fear of spoiling something is called a "sandbox". A sense of creative and emotional freedom is what sand therapy means for preschool children. At this age, the process of active socialization of a person starts, his emotions become deeper and more diverse, but he cannot always express them in words. But he can "paint" them in the sand.

History of origin and essence of the method

Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychologist of the first half of the 20th century, spoke of sand as a material that returns an adult to the "archetype of a child", and the English physician Margaret Lowenfeld was the first to use trays of sand and small figures in working with children. Dora Kalff, a follower of Jung and a student of Lowenfeld, is considered the author of the full-fledged technique, thanks to which the sand therapy method took its final form.

In fact, this is one of the types of art therapy, which differs from the rest in the simplicity of manipulations, the fragility of the created forms, the ability to correct them without any restrictions. No special skills or abilities are required when working with this material, and ready-made figures of people and animals, natural materials help in creating compositions. The main task of sand therapy for children, on the one hand, is to help an adult (teacher or psychologist) identify and help solve problems that may be hidden deep in the child's soul, and on the other hand, to contribute to the psycho-emotional development of the child.

Required materials and equipment

It is believed that interaction with natural materials has a beneficial effect on the emotional state of a person at any age, while one of the main requirements for sand therapy equipment is naturalness. The sand box should be wooden and the sand should be clean, preferably quartz. You can use river or sea sand, after sifting it and rinsing thoroughly. The bottom and inner walls of the box are traditionally painted blue, so that when drawing with sand on a plane it is easy to depict the sky, and when creating volumetric compositions - water.

Real water also plays an important role: it is more convenient to build volumetric figures from moistened sand. Therefore, in the psychologist's office there are two containers - one for dry sand, the other for wet. The collection of figurines should be quite rich: different people, animals, symbols, all kinds of objects from the real or fantasy world - everything that can be useful to reflect any situations and fantasies.

It is also necessary to have natural elements - stones of different sizes, shapes and textures, twigs, shells. All this will help the child to get comfortable in the sandbox, awaken in him the desire to interact with the proposed materials, to fantasize, draw and build. A constructor is ideal for construction. It is desirable that its details are not too small, otherwise they will be lost in the sand, and the construction process itself runs the risk of being delayed and distracting the child from the main action.

Sand as a stress reliever

Even a simple pouring of sand in the palms of your hands can calm and tune a restless child to a peaceful mood, and will help the withdrawn and silent one to relax and open up for communication. The fluidity of the sand is often compared to time running away irrevocably, and children are intuitively drawn to this simple and familiar substance, playing in the sandbox for a long time. It is significant that these games are always calm, meditative in nature, not only in a psychologist's office, but also on an ordinary playground - they can be called self-therapy.

Sand can relieve internal stress not only in children. In the minds of most adults, the stressful everyday life is contrasted with a sandy beach as a symbol of tranquility and serenity. Jung's main idea is that through interaction with sand in an adult, his inner child wakes up, a primary emotional source is exposed, which in fact is not something passed and forgotten - it controls a person's emotions and experiences throughout his life.

There are almost no age restrictions for such activities: already at the age of 1 year, it will be useful for a child to get acquainted with the sand (under the supervision of adults). This will enrich his experience of tactile and visual sensations, which in itself are important in the early period of development. As for contraindications, they are related both to the physical nature of sand - these are respiratory diseases (asthma, dust allergies) and skin damage (cuts, scratches, skin diseases), and with some mental disorders:

with hyperactivity;
epilepsy;
schizophrenia;
too high level of anxiety;
obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Possibilities of the method when applied by specialists

For all its apparent simplicity, sand therapy is a powerful tool in the hands of a professional psychologist. It allows a specialist to simultaneously solve several problems at once.

Diagnostics- classes with sand decipher the child's internal signals, identify the causes of his fears and problems.
Prophylaxis- systematic sessions can prevent the development of mental disorders or psychological problems.
Consulting- Based on the results obtained as a result of the therapy, the specialist gives parents advice to help them strengthen the emotional connection with the child, help him resolve internal contradictions.
Correction- Well-chosen exercises can change the behavior of the baby during a series of sessions, help him overcome difficulties in communication, teach him to avoid conflicts.

The use of sand therapy is not exclusively the prerogative of psychologists. It is also successfully used by teachers, speech therapists, defectologists and other specialists working with children. For example, in speech therapy classes, games within the framework of this method help to solve many problems:

development of phonemic hearing;
correction of pronunciation of sounds;
development of grammatically harmonious, coherent speech;
teaching to read and write.

In the process of sand games and exercises, the participants freely exchange ideas, share feelings, which gradually allows building a trusting relationship between them. To develop communication skills, group lessons are effective when several children play together in a sandbox under the unobtrusive guidance of a teacher. Such games teach children to try on certain roles, to work in a team. It is important for a specialist observing the process to note how the players are able to hear each other, whether they can independently resolve conflicts and jointly overcome difficulties.

The potential of sand therapy for correctional, developmental and educational work with children lies in the fact that its combination with traditional teaching methods gives an additional effect. The opportunity to learn in the course of a favorite game significantly increases the child's motivation to acquire knowledge, which contributes to a more intensive and harmonious development of cognitive processes. Considering also the aspect of relaxation, relieving internal stress, we can talk about a complex educational and therapeutic effect.

Sand therapy in teaching practice

The place of acquaintance of preschoolers with sand therapy is often a kindergarten, where a teacher teaches them.

The lesson program includes three main stages.

Acquaintance. The child (s) is given time to get to know the sandbox itself and the toys that can participate in the game. The teacher draws the child's attention to the assortment of figures, explains to which category this or that group of objects belongs, and answers questions.
Model creation. This is the main stage at which the player is invited to draw up a storyline and depict it with the help of an arsenal of available tools: figures, objects, the sand itself. The child is given complete freedom of action, in which the teacher does not interfere. Throughout the entire process, he carefully observes the child's actions, notes his reactions and behavior.
Summarizing. The final stage, at which the teacher examines the finished composition with sincere interest, listens to the child's explanations about what, how and why he placed on the sand, highlights important information about the emotional state of the little artist. At the same time, in no case should an adult in the presence of a child arbitrarily rearrange or remove figures from a picture, or change something in the composition. You should also be careful when expressing your opinion about the building.

Such classes are often conducted with groups of several children for educational purposes, to improve their communication skills, for general development.

How are sessions with psychologists going?

As a rule, the parents of a child or an adult client turn to a psychologist for help in solving a specific problem. Therefore, the session, although it is based on the same stages, is built more carefully, and the analysis of the results is carried out in a deeper way. In the psychologist's office, more than anywhere else, the patient's loss of control over consciousness is important, allowing the problem that worries him to materialize with the help of sand and auxiliary figures.

The analysis begins already at the stage of choosing miniatures for creating a sand picture. Trying not to make noise and not get into the child's field of vision, so as not to distract him, the psychologist carefully observes all his actions, trying not to miss a single detail. This is especially important when working with children with speech difficulties.

The time for choosing figures is not limited, and in the process of creativity they can be removed or added. Before starting to create a sand picture, at the request of a psychologist, the child arranges all the selected figures and objects on a tray of sand in the order he sees fit - in this row, a lot of valuable information is encrypted, understandable to a specialist. Then the modeling process itself begins.

Children love to embody fabulous, fantastic stories in the sand, inspired by the complete freedom of expression. Usually, it takes no more than an hour to create a picture, after which the psychologist can discuss it with the child: what kind of world it is, who inhabits it, what character each of the characters has, in what relationship they are, etc. After such a description, the psychologist can ask questions prompting the patient to change something in the plot, to develop it. For example:

Does everyone live well in this world or is someone sad?
If some of the heroes feel bad, what can be done to make him feel good?
How will the heroes behave next?

It is important that the child does not just talk about the development of events, but illustrate all this on a sand model, changing the position of the figures. After each such change, the question follows: "What will happen next?" This continues until the hero's problem is resolved. If a child states that now everyone is fine in this sandy world, this will mean that his inner tension has been removed at an unconscious level. If he says that the hero is bad, but it is impossible to help him, the psychologist will suggest that he again turn to the shelves with figures and see if there is someone there who will save the situation. Thus, the specialist gradually "unravels" the tangle of childhood experiences, helping the little patient to find a way out of the emotional vicious circle.

When working with an adult, the psychologist also discusses the client's finished creation, asking questions about the meaning of certain constructions, about what could be different or would like to change. In the course of such a conversation, the lost feeling of confidence gradually returns to the person, he begins to understand what exactly worries him and why. Finally he accepts the situation. Often, after the first session, the patient becomes much better, he begins to see the solution to his problems where complete darkness reigned before.

Speaking about the practice of sand therapy at home, they mean rather a playful form of training than a method of psychoanalysis. This kind of joint activity between parent and child will bring a lot of pleasure to both and help to better understand each other. It is not difficult to organize a sandbox at home, especially since it is not necessary to strictly follow all the scientific canons of the method for playing with sand at home. The basic element - creative freedom - must remain unchanged.

Do not refuse if the child asks you to draw his own sand picture, because he is interested in what his closest person will "create".

Any wide container is quite suitable for classes, preferably with high sides and a lid - this will make the sand more convenient to store. Sand preparation must be approached with greater responsibility: it must be completely safe. The sand is sold in pet stores, but you can collect it yourself - the main thing is to sift it well, rinse it and quench it (or at least heat it in the oven).

The next step is to collect a collection of various miniature toys. It may not be as large as that of a professional psychologist, but still sufficient for creativity. Do not forget about natural materials - stones, feathers, shells, cones, nutshells. Small things like buttons or coins, toys made from chocolate eggs can come in handy. It is also necessary to prepare a spray bottle with water to moisten the sand.

You can start the game! For example, a child will happily play pirates, where he will need to find a buried “treasure” indicated by a cross on a drawn map, measuring “steps” from a landmark with his fingers, or build a sand castle in which a princess will be imprisoned - here everything is limited only by the imagination of the participants ...

Probably, each of the adults once in childhood played in the sandbox - spending time building sand castles, and did not think at all that in this way he expresses his feelings, mood and attitude to the world around him. Sand therapy for preschool children, developed by psychologists, is a direction of art therapy that very well solves many problems in the development of children.

The use of sand in therapy first began in the 1920s.... The author of this method is the Jungian analyst Dora Kalff. Sand therapy is based on the symbolic content of the unconscious as a source of development and inner growth. Dora Kalff believed that sand paintings can tell a lot about a person's state of mind.

Sand therapy was first used to work with psychologically disadvantaged children by Margaret Lowenfeld, she called this technique "the technique of building the world"... Currently, sand therapy is used in child psychoanalysis, art therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, gestalt therapy and family relationship therapy.

Features of the method

Playing with sand can help your child develop spatial imagination., teach logical thinking, and in addition, develop fine motor skills. Working with sand, the child calms down, so it is indicated for children with hyperactivity.

Sand therapy programs contain everything - hand gymnastics, the embodiment of fantasies, acting and much more, which will positively influence the emotional background of the child, develop sensitive skills and stimulate cognitive processes.

Sand therapy for preschool children can be used from early childhood and parents will be able to learn earlier about what their baby cares about, what he is afraid of, and how he sees the world around him.

Expressing your feelings in words is not always easy even for an adult, and a child who is burdened with psychological problems is not at all capable of it. Sand therapy helps to express what words are missing.

Sand therapy for preschool children is a game, a creative process, not a painting technique. Therefore, there can be no mistakes here, which means there will be no reason for frustration. Creating a new world is a fun and enjoyable process, compositions are created easily and without stress. This moment is very important for children who need emotional, speech therapy or any other psychological correction.

Benefit n sand therapy for preschool children

Do not think that classes with sand can only provide psychological help to a child who has emotional or psychological trauma. Sand therapy has much more possibilities:

during classes, you can correlate play and real life;
create a sense of comfort;
relieve muscle tension;
improve vision;
Expand words knowledge;
learn letters;
master the skills of writing and reading;
develop hearing.

If we talk about the psychological orientation of sand therapy, the following can be noted:

look at yourself from the outside- by the position of the hands in the sandbox, the therapist can tell a lot about the patient;
simulation of situations;
the sense that there are other ways out from problem situations, except for critical ones.

Who needs sand therapy?

In principle, sand therapy is useful for everyone, but it is more relevant for children who have the following problems:

neuroses;
increased anxiety;
psychosomatic ailments;
excessive aggressiveness;
stress that is provoked by social or family conflicts;
speech therapy disorders that develop against a background of nervous tension.

Sand therapy will be of great benefit to children who do not show their feelings, cannot explain their thoughts and emotions. Also, sand therapy will have a beneficial effect on children who have suffered psychological trauma. as a result of which they are closed or it is difficult for them to find the right solution.

And also sand therapy makes it possible:

develop creatively;
diagnose the main problem that worries the child;
teach a child to find a way out of various situations.

Contraindications for sand therapy

the child has attention deficit;
epilepsy;
schizophrenia;
excessively high level of anxiety;
the child has obsessive-compulsive disorder;
dust allergy;
lung disease;
cuts on the hands;
skin diseases.

What is needed for the sessions?

For sand therapy, it is not at all necessary to visit a psychotherapist's office. You can conduct sessions in a children's sandbox, on the beach, just in a pile of sand that was brought for construction, in the end you can fill a box with sand and put it in an apartment.

There are a few more words to say about the sand therapy box. It is advisable to paint the box blue as it will have a calming effect on the child. The size of the box should be 70x50x8 - these are the optimal sizes that it is desirable to adhere to. It is not necessary to fill the box with sand to the brim, half is enough.

For home sessions, sand can be brought from the beach or purchased. In the first case, the sand will have to be sieved, washed and dried. For a more thorough disinfection, the sand can be kept in a preheated oven.

It is better to have two types of sand - soft river sand, which is sold in hardware stores, it can be of different colors; and coarse sand - sea - for modeling.

Sand therapy will also require water, as well as what are symbols of the real world - figurines of people and fairy-tale heroes, animals, furniture, houses, cars, plants, household utensils, natural materials. The list can be endless, in other words, you will need everything that the child will ask for during the game.

After everything is ready, parents should give the child complete creative freedom.- the child should choose all the objects for the game on his own, there should not be any advice from adults, except for the moments when the child himself asks for help. This is the world of your child, and he is a full-fledged owner in it - who he wants to bury, what he wants to elevate, in a word he expresses his thoughts and feelings, and parents or psychologists should just watch what is happening.

Psychologists have identified three stages in the development of a child's play with sand:

Chaos. On the playground, the figures are scattered without any order, people, plants, animals and other objects do not have specific places and their location is atypical. Such a phenomenon suggests that the child is worried about something, he is anxious and cannot collect his thoughts.
Wrestling. The child clearly divides all the characters of the game into good and bad, the predominance of certain figures is very significant - which ones are more bad or good? This speaks of the inner struggle of the child. You should not rush the child and push him to add goodies, what matters is what happens at the end of the game.
Exodus. The final stage of therapy. A positive ending to the game testifies to the peace and quiet in the child's soul.

A child's individual games under the supervision of an adult can begin from the age when the child stops pulling everything into his mouth. Group lessons usually start at the age of 3.

Sand therapy session, games

For the development of general motor skills, it is recommended to draw and play with sand while standing. Thus, the child uses most of the muscles, the musculoskeletal system is strengthened, the correct posture is formed, and coordination of movements develops.

To emphasize the development of fine motor skills, exercises that focus on training the fingers are recommended. Such exercises increase the efficiency of the cerebral cortex, have a positive effect on speech centers, and develop manual skill.

Exercises to develop motor skills

A child and an adult leave prints of their hands on a flat surface of sand - the palm and the back of the palm. At the same time, the adult talks about how he feels when touching the sand. Then the child should talk about his feelings, perhaps he will be laconic, and then you can ask leading questions. What sand does it feel like? What is the difference in touching different parts of the palm?

Next, you can feel the sand with your fingertips, sprinkle the sand on top of your palm, and ask the child whether he is pleased with it or not. Such an exercise teaches the child to listen to his feelings, examine the object with his hands and consciously evaluate tactile sensations.

To relieve emotional stress, it is necessary to play games in a calm atmosphere, exercises should be aimed at developing skills for managing your own muscle tone. Relaxation helps some children release tension while others focus.

Relaxation exercises for children

Draw different patterns with your palms, knuckles, fists and talk with your child what they look like - animal tracks, snowflakes, branches. It is necessary to unobtrusively awaken the child's fantasy.

To remove aggression, it is important that the game ends with positive emotions, good prevails over evil. In this case, it is possible to use fairy-tale characters through which the child will reveal his inner problems and experiences.

The free, varied antistress coloring pages of cat therapy presented in this article are a great way to calm our minds, put our thoughts in order and relax.

Exercise to relieve an aggressive state

You can arrange a sand shower - at first, let the rain be shallow, and fit on one palm, then the sand can be scooped up with two palms or a children's bucket. It is very important that the child feels his involvement in this rain, then he will calm down and will perceive further games less aggressively.

Sand therapy books

There are many useful and excellent books on this area of therapy, but we recommend you: the book “Sand therapy. Practical start "Elena Tararina. It can be bought at the Ozone store with fast home delivery:

Sand therapy videos

Conclusion

In order for the child to learn to express his thoughts and feelings, psychologists advise to depict them in the form of drawings. But small children draw poorly, because of this they get upset, cry and become even more isolated. Sand therapy for preschool children: drawing on the sand and playing with sand free the child from the burden of worries, and the quality of the drawing on the sand does not matter, so the child is protected from failure.

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From childhood memories, everyone involuntarily comes up with moments of beach games in sand castles or games of the distant past in the yard sandbox with neighboring children. It turns out that this is not only entertainment, but also the benefits of physiological and psychological development, if all this is sand therapy.

If you are parents or educators, you have probably noticed more than once how sand games affect children, children enthusiastically and completely calmly pick their fingers, toys and shovels in the sand.

Children are simply immersed in a sandy world that bewitches them. Such moments occur at a certain age interval, and this can be used in working with preschoolers, and organize sand therapy for children.

Sand therapy method

Sand therapy methods in working with preschool children have long been used in practice. Sand therapy for children will only increase the usefulness and calming effect.

It is worth noting that children can play outside only in summer and in favorable weather. Why not arrange a sandbox at home and in kindergarten? - it's so simple. You can even diversify the game in the sand by making a backlit sandbox and do sand animation.

Sand therapy in kindergarten

With the help of sand therapy, preschoolers develop their individual abilities, children's works reflect their true feelings, experiences and emotions. Sand is a versatile building material, with its help you can quickly realize your ideas, build a castle, mold a figure, come up with and implement a new idea.

Dry sand can be used in sand animation, the preschooler will be able to show their artistic talents. Children, being carried away by sand games, become subconsciously dependent on the hobby.

Sand therapy for children can become a cure for a number of diseases, an assistant in solving difficult issues, and have a beneficial effect on their psycho-emotional state.

The sand therapy technique was first applied by psychologist Carl Jung and gradually found its followers, who passed on their knowledge further, and now this technique is used in preschool institutions during classes with children of all age groups, including preschool ones.

The use of the sand therapy method is now found even at home. Sand therapy can be used not only in the treatment of mental illness and for psychological impact, but also in combination with small toys can be used in defectology.

You can learn sand therapy in the shortest possible time, it will not be a big effort, especially since you will bring great joy to the children and hear their gratitude.

With the help of sand animation in working with preschool children, the psychologist of the preschool institution can easily recognize the existing problems of each of the children, since the drawings in the sand are subconsciously emerging images of the child.

Drawings cannot be just arbitrary, they hide fears, experiences, conflicts and other emotional outbursts.

In children, this is much easier to detect, since it is on the surface of consciousness than in adults. In adults, everything is much more complicated, mental and psychological problems are deeper, and they are secretive.

Sand therapy reveals the latent potentials of the child and corrects developmental defects. With its help, the sensitivity of the limbs, due to the impact on the nerve endings, develops artistic and creative abilities, sharpens fantasies and improves imaginative thinking.

Finally, sand therapy can be used as a simple sedative for violent and hyperactive children.

The advantage of sand therapy is that it does not require the accuracy of lines and the similarity of images - this is a free art and therefore experiences, stress in children when playing in the sand are almost excluded. Here, only the received joy from the games.

The versatility of the advantages of sand therapy allows you to use sand even as an assistant in the work of a speech therapist. Sand can be used to develop speech. It seems that, at first glance, speech and sand cannot be connected in any way.

But it is worth recalling that sand is a building material, and on it you can sculpt and write letters, words, children can sculpt figures, and then tell what it is and why the child blinded just such a figure.

Features of sand therapy classes

To organize sand therapy classes, as the name suggests, of course, you need sand, best of all, both dry and wet.

We need two sandboxes, one with bottom lighting (for dry sand), the second is just a moisture-resistant sandbox (for wet sand).

In addition to practicing po, you will need many different small toys, like the chocolate eggs "Kinder".

A sand therapy session begins with the choice of several toys by children that they like best, it is advisable not to rush the child in choosing, he must realize his preferences himself.

The child must arrange the toys in the sandbox at his own discretion in any sequence and in any place. The psychologist, already in the course of placing toys, sees a certain connection with the emotional self-expression of the child and somewhere can help in the course of children's play in difficult moments.

Sand therapy is an affordable educational tool for almost any teacher and educational assistant and does not require any global financial costs.

The boxes can be made by the housekeeper of the institution, sand on the street, there are small toys in every kindergarten, even if you buy them as a set, it is not so expensive. It is better, of course, that the sides of the sandbox are higher, and the bottom is painted sky blue, as a symbol of water and sky. The sand must be clean and safe (washed, sifted, oven-baked).

With the help of games during sand therapy sessions, various scenarios of life situations related to relationships, profession, nature and even ethnic orientation should be used.

In this regard, there should be figures of people of different genders, ages, professions and nationalities, all kinds of animals, birds, plants, household items, furniture.

All game scenes should be focused on a specific task with a specific type of toy. It is desirable that in the audience where the children are engaged, melodic calm music played, or silence reigned, taking into account the preferences of the group.

Good afternoon, dear readers!

The sand beckons and beckons children. Remember with what pleasure they dig in the sandbox! Unfortunately, sand is not available in winter.

But sand therapy for preschool children can not only interest the child in the creative process, but also normalize the moral state. What is this technique?

Sand therapy is a psychotherapy technique aimed at relieving psychological stress. It allows the child to touch his deep self, to create a holistic picture of the world, to create a unique image.

The founders of this trend were Z. Freud and E. Erickson. Through their teachings, in the 1930s, sand therapy was used to treat adults and children, as well as early childhood development.

How is the technique useful?

Restores mental harmony.
Develops thinking, imagination, memory, fine motor skills.
Relieves fears and stress.
Solves communication problems.
Increases self-esteem.
Establishes peace of mind.

To understand how this method of psychological treatment helps, you need to try it yourself. Remember the pleasure with which you poured sand on the beach, built castles with the kids, and at the same time felt calm and removed from all stress and problems.

The technique also works on small children: they calm down, become less nervous when they pour the sand, creating pictures from it.

What sand therapy treats

Sand therapy helps to cope with many conditions in children:

psychosomatic childhood illnesses;
increased anxiety;
isolation, difficulties in communication;
neuroses;
causes of family conflicts.

It is also used if there are special indications for treatment or simply the desire of children for creativity and self-expression.

Pedagogical technology, despite its seeming simplicity and all-accessibility, has contraindications:

epilepsy;
pulmonary diseases;
rash, allergies;
hyperactivity.

The psychotherapist must take into account contraindications, so you can independently determine whether a child can engage in sand therapy if you are sure that your child is completely healthy.

How are the lessons going?

Tasks in the sand therapy class are given in stages. Gradually they become more complicated, and real works of art develop from simple games.

"Chaos" . Children take a cup of sand and throw it into the spaced toys. In this way, they express their emotions and the complexes living in them. If the child goes headlong into this activity, for the psychologist it is a sign that the baby is not all right. It expresses confusion, fears and experiences that must be got rid of.
"Wrestling" . The baby divides the figures and toys into 2 opposing groups. They are fighting among themselves, and the sand acts as a tool. You should not tell the child which toys will be good forces and which ones will be evil (this is the essence of the struggle). He himself must determine the members of the group.
Exodus. Movements become smooth. Figures are combined in pairs. There comes balance and harmony.

This is the initial stage of implementation in sand therapy. Then you can play games with the kids, create various pictures.

"Let's get acquainted!" ... Let your child touch the sand. Let him stroke it, touch it. Offer to draw the lines of the snake using different parts of the hand, for example, finger, rib, palm.
"Rain" . The crumb collects sand in his hand and gradually releases it, evenly scattering it. The sand is like rain. Exercise trains the muscle tone of the hand.

"Guess" . The figures are buried in the material while the child closes his eyes. With his hands he must then guess which figures are buried in the sand. This exercise trains tactile sensations and at the same time can interest the baby.
"A funny story"... Build figurines. Let the child remember the order in which they stand. Then bury them. The kid's task is to get the figures and arrange them in the same order as they stood. If the kid is learning letters, you can take the letters from plastic and bury them in the sand. When the letters are found, you can add a word from them.
You can build a city from the source material. Place the figures in it. In the city, you can leave a place and a child.

To conduct classes, you will need the following inventory:

sand (best taken not from the river, but intended for practice);
quartz sand (can be found on special manufacturers' websites);
figurines of fairy-tale heroes, animals, plants, little men;
scraps of fabric, ribbons;
colored stones;
toy cars, castles, houses.

The sand therapy kit can be purchased at the store or made by yourself. Classes can also be held at home. If you are teaching in a group, it is best to purchase a special kit. Its cost can be divided among all participants, since the price of the set is rather big - from 2 thousand rubles.

Study aids

To conduct classes, you should purchase manuals and books with class notes:

Grabenko T. M. and Zinkevich-Evstigneeva T. D. "Workshop on sand therapy", "Miracles on the sand." They are focused on the Jungian approach (a direction in psychotherapy that works with the fantasy reality in which people live).
L. Steinhardt "Jungian sand psychotherapy". The book contains a variety of interpretations of sand paintings and compositions. With her help, you can interpret the psychological state of the child and his creatures.
Sakovich N.A. "The technology of playing in the sand." This edition is devoted directly to the technology of sand games.
El Galin "The Man Playing in the Sand". Here is the technology for working with adults.

Can be found many more significant benefits, which will help you understand the technique at first. If you observe anxiety and stress in yourself or your child, do sanding together: this activity will benefit you.