Why Outdoor Play Tables Are Essential For Development
Updated on: January 22, 2024
Outdoor play tables are a brilliant way to provide children with an exciting and fun activity that delivers endless joy as well as a multitude of unique and valuable learning experiences.
Unlike so many activities for young children, once the table is filled with sand and water, it requires no further work from you, yet children will find an infinite number of ways to play with it.
The multi-sensory experience sand and water play delivers makes it an extremely fascinating activity for children.
The amount of unexpected outcomes play at a sand and water table creates means it’s a highly valuable playground resource for schools, parks and other playspaces.
Why Outdoor Play Tables Are Important
One of the most important things we want children to do is to be curious.
Research by Sophie Von Stumm, founder of the Hungry Mind Lab at Goldsmiths University, suggests curiosity is just as important as effort or intelligence when it comes to academic achievement.
Her extensive studies remind us that it’s so important all children are provided with experiences that foster curiosity.
Sophie Von Stumm has found many children from deprived backgrounds have less exposure to curious activities meaning they may be placed at a disadvantage when it comes to attainment if they don’t get these experiences in schools and nurseries.
According to Marianne Stenger writing in Edutopia, a study by Gelman, Gruber and Ranganath demonstrated that curiosity puts the brain on alert so it absorbs and remembers information better.
This is because, according to the research, curiosity ignites both the hippocampus which is responsible for learning and the brain circuit which is involved in: pleasure, rewarding feelings and the release of the feel-good endorphin, dopamine.
So not only does sand and water play deliver rich educational experiences, it also helps children to absorb the learning better whilst building memories that will last. Maybe this is the reason why so many adults love nothing better than sand and water play at the beach!
Needless to say, the entire activity of playing at an outdoor play table provides a fantastic, motivating environment for child development.
It’s one of the reasons why, here at Fun & Active Playgrounds, we’re so passionate about making our outdoor play tables as innovative as possible. It’s the perfect playground resource for our combination of fun and educational design.
We already know educational play has to be fun and spark curiosity, that’s why for us, fun and education go hand in hand.
Our River Run Station is a brilliant example. We’ve taken an ordinary sand and water table design and transformed it into the perfect place to explore endless science, maths, technology, and engineering concepts as well as other types of play.
See the River Run Station and other outdoor play tables
Let’s take a closer look at the other top benefits sand and water play tables deliver for children’s development.
Top Benefits of Outdoor Play Tables For Children
1. Sensory Play
Outdoor play tables provide children with a fascinating sensory experience that’s constantly changing.
From the different ways water moves and sounds to the varied textures sand creates as it’s crunched, sprinkled, poured, and patted, both materials offer plenty to satisfy the senses.
We use our senses to understand our world so when they’re aroused lots of different parts of the body and brain become engaged in learning.
Sensory play helps to build the important nerve connections that make up the structure of the brain.
At the same time, both language and motor skills come into play as children work hard to make sense of what they’re doing and seeing.
This high level of problem-solving makes sensory play a very beneficial type of play for children’s cognitive and physical development.
2. Safe Space To Experiment
Sensory play usually goes hand in hand with messy play yet sand and water play tables eliminate the mess for you.
Instead of the restrictions children usually have to follow, in a sand and water play table children are free to experiment with materials in a ways that are usually not allowed.
This was one of our many priorities when designing the Sand and Water Basin. You’ll notice it has a generous surround and basin which both ensure sand and water stays inside the table instead of on the floor!
The surround is big enough for young children to balance buckets and containers on the side without them falling off whilst also providing plenty of room for many pupils to play together comfortably.
3. Builds STEM Learning
The freedom to experiment means outdoor play tables provide rich opportunities for children to explore key concepts and skills involved in science, maths, technology, and engineering.
In this safe and fascinating space, children have room to investigate all the many questions that arise as they play with the sand and water.
As children ask questions about what the materials can do then test and evaluate what happens, they’re developing important scientific and mathematical thinking.
With time and space to investigate each question, sand and water play gives young children their first experiences of core concepts such as: weight, forces, measures, materials and their properties, construction and more.
4. Promotes Language Skills
All this wonder and excitement means outdoor play tables are brilliant for children’s language development.
As children experiment, they’ll be motivated to talk about what they can see and what they’re thinking.
The shape of an outdoor play table means collaborative play will develop naturally. Children will have valuable opportunities to learn the benefits of working with others to achieve a goal and how to do that successfully.
5. Builds Gross and Fine Motor Skills
Curiosity means children will want to explore all the different things sand and water can do.
Sand and water play is very physical so it’s a great way for pupils to build gross and fine motor skills.
Lifting, bending, and pulling will help children to develop upper body strength whilst picking up slippery objects, dragging toys through the water and scooping up sand provide lots of unique ways for a pupil’s fine motor skills to improve.
See the range of possibilities for yourself. Browse our collection of outdoor play tables now.
Jess Sparks
Jess is deeply committed to supporting our mission of positively impacting UK outdoor play environments to promote healthy lifestyles in children.
With a CIM Level 6 Diploma in Sustainable Marketing, Jess channels her passion for sustainability into her marketing role, using her skills to promote eco-conscious practices and raise awareness for our initiatives.
Jess’ experience within the industry is instrumental in driving engagement and supporting connections with those who require ultra-durable, high-grade playground markings both locally and internationally.