Sand shapes: an art & fine motor activity

This sand shapes project was a fun and simple little activity I put out on our shelves. It combines shapes, art, and fine motor skills into one fun activity. XGirl, in particularly, had a lot of fun creating sand shapes.

Note: For more ideas to help kids learn their shapes, see my Teaching Shapes to Kids page.

For this activity, I prepared the following materials on a tray:

Craft sand (I set out three different colors)
Several of our Montessori shapes insets
Squares of clear contact paper (cut to the same size as the Montessori shapes insets)

To make it easier for my kids to do this activity independently, I peeled the corner of the contact paper squares and stuck a little piece of paper inside for them to grab.

To make the sand shapes, my kids peeled the backing off the contact paper, and then placed the clear contact paper sticky side up onto their tray.

They then placed the Montessori shape inset of their choice onto the contact paper square. With the sticky side of the contact paper facing up, the insets easily stay in place while kids finish their project.

My kids then used their fingers to sprinkle colored craft sand onto the contact paper revealed by the shape inset.