I was reminded yesterday of my beginning to write on sand at the pre-school around three years, when I watched a video being made to help pre-school children to play in the sand to improve the finger co-ordination. I have a vague memory of sand spread on the corner of the front veranda of the house where the pre-school was held.
I remember my parents having a similar facility at home and allowing me to do many activities with the sand, the only condition being that I had to gather back the sand if I had killed it beyond the designated area.
From a kinaesthetic sense, the fingers get stimulated by multiple grains of sand on the same place, which probably help in creating a greater sensory perception when the peripheral nervous system is evolving. The clinical test of two point discrimination we use, in sensory examination is test which helps in discriminating the two points touched by the examiner, when the subject's eyes are closed. I do it often in examining older children neurologically.
I recalled how such an ability would have been stimulated by sand play and writing on sand with fingers.
I remember while testing the Soft Neurological Signs in early school years of children, during my research project, coming across children whose ability to feel the soft touch was reduced. I found out during the research that most children who did have difficulty to discriminate between points touched, when they were close to each other, had more difficulty to hold a writing instrument properly or stay within four lines while writing.
Many parents forget that in a digital age, when most children would use a keyboard for all computer applications would do better if they have a highly sensitive finger tips, for which sand play is the ideal for all pre-school children. The granularity of the sand, unlike the play dough, has a unique stimulating effect on the sensory nerve endings.
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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