If a child ate sand: what should parents do? Playing in the sandbox: at home and on the street What to do if a child has eaten enough river sand

Childhood is a time for play. For many, it is associated with hopscotch, jumping rope, ball games and, of course, playing in the sand. The sandbox remains the most popular place on the playground for all kids - and today children of all ages flock to them, armed with buckets, shovels and molds.

Such a craving for pouring sand should only make parents happy: pediatricians around the world continue to insist that activities with bulk materials are excellent for developing fine motor skills.

Many mothers and fathers use the time when their child is enthusiastically playing in the sand as a kind of respite - an opportunity to sit quietly and breathe fresh air. However, why not have some fun with your beloved son or daughter? Kids, especially early age, do not yet have a very good idea of the possibilities that bulk material provides - their imagination is still just awakening.

Interesting and fun games a lot will be left in the sandbox for children pleasant impressions for mother and baby and will have a very beneficial effect on its development. The most important thing is to approach this with imagination.

Today, many parents buy home sandboxes for their children. Stores mostly sell tabletop ones intended for older children. three years. As a rule, they are distinguished by bright cases and pure white or yellow (and in some models even multi-colored) fine sand, and they are often accompanied by sets of toys and comfortable rugs, thanks to which the contents of the case will not be scattered throughout the apartment.

However, kids will certainly like the floor sandbox, which can even be made from plywood or sheets of plasterboard. It is enough to firmly fit the body parts to each other, make sure the pallet is strong, add carefully sifted river sand (to clear your conscience, you can even boil it) - your homemade and safe sandbox is ready! You can paint its walls with characters from your child’s favorite cartoon or decorate it with bright stickers, buy light, beautiful and convenient plastic equipment. The most important thing is to be prepared for frequent cleaning, since sand is a free-flowing and sticky material.

For children under three years old

Creative activity in early childhood is not yet so developed, but cognitive activity is quite developed. Therefore, games in the home sandbox at this stage are primarily associated with satisfying curiosity and developing tactile sensations. In the tabletop device, you can draw various figures with your fingers, transfer sand from palm to palm - this will help the baby get an idea of the properties of the material. You can even draw on clean sand with a spatula or a rake - the sooner the baby learns to use them, the better.

In a floor sandbox you can do the same thing, with the only difference that the surface area allows you to do other games: you can slightly moisten the sand and try to manipulate molds, make the first Easter cake, stomp, or even draw with your toes - such exercise will be wonderful prevention of flat feet.

For children over three years old

Junior and preschool childhood– it’s time for creativity, and in the sandbox you can do exciting things like this:

acting out scenes with toys included in the tabletop sandbox set;
construction of houses, castles;
construction of mountains, ravines, river beds (in a home sandbox it is very convenient to study the earth's topography);
playing kitchen, making pies, cakes, cookies;
stick drawing, creating pictures on colored sand.

If a child plays in a home sandbox, it is very important to teach him to clean up after himself. Children as young as 4 years old are able to fold and put away toys, sweep away and return spilled sand to its place. Using a broom and dustpan can become another exciting game for your child.

Outdoor sandbox games

When visiting a children's playground, it is simply impossible to bypass the sandbox. Therefore, when going for a walk, you should stock up on the following items.

With a bucket. It is advisable to take a couple or three various shapes, but you can get by with just one. The bucket should be light, have dimensions appropriate for the baby’s age and have a durable handle.
Scoop and rake. Again they may be different colors and sizes, however, it is not at all necessary to collect an overly large arsenal - the main thing is that the equipment is easy to use.
Molds. Modern toys for the sandbox they have interesting shapes and bright colors. For children's games, it is advisable to purchase large toys - it will be easier for the baby to use just such toys.
Set of toy dishes. It seems that doll plates and cups can only be useful to girls, but often boys are happy to join in these kinds of games.
Various toy vehicles - dump trucks, excavators, boats, boats - will be very useful for boys: they will give them the opportunity to feel like real builders.
Toy animals and dolls made of plastic or rubber are perfect for role playing games and the construction of fairy-tale cities, but it’s better to leave plush toys and doll beauties with long luxurious hair at home.
Natural materials - pebbles, twigs, leaves, flowers and even shells (it is advisable to collect them in advance).
Water to wet the sand (with wet modeling material will go wherever more fun).

Of course, there is no need to take all these toys with you at once: it is better to plan all the games with your baby before the walk and take only what you need.

Up to three years

To a one-year-old or even two-year-old child, an outdoor sandbox may seem like a whole world filled with material with interesting properties. With children of this age you can play the following games:

“Poursing” - pouring sand from hand to hand, clenching a fist;
“Treasure hunt” - burying toys or coins in the sand and searching for them;
“Drawing competition” - creating paintings and applications in the sand;

“The Cheerful Confectioner” - sculpting Easter cakes, pastries and even whole cakes.

At this age, the child needs careful supervision: right now the urge to eat sand is stronger than ever.

After three years

Children over three years old in the sandbox are a separate issue. Often real passions boil there: redivision of territory, taking away molds and throwing sand. Eternal friendships and blood feuds are made here - at least until the next walk. However, there are games for the sandbox that will not only allow mother and baby to spend time with benefit and pleasure, but will also unite all the children who are here.

"City Construction". Buckets will be useful for constructing towers, shovels, molds and branches will be useful for constructing walls and laying bridges, toy dump trucks will provide the delivery of building materials, and animals and dolls will happily populate this fairy-tale city - so both boys and girls will have something to do.
“Cafe” Doll dishes and leaves will come in handy here. In a similar way You can also play in the store.
"Construction" is a game for real men. Digging pits, transporting sand, and building giant structures will appeal to little owners of cars and other toy equipment.
"Magic Garden". Finds application here natural material- twigs, flowers, stones. Each child can be assigned to create a separate area - a thicket, a forest edge, a lake.

To make the games more fun, do not forget to regularly water the sand - this will make all the structures much more durable. It’s also a good idea to take a change of clothes for a walk: after such active games, children rarely look clean.

What to do if your child eats sand

It is hardly possible to find parents who have not encountered a rather frightening manifestation of childish spontaneity - tasting sand. You shouldn’t be surprised by the general desire of children to taste the contents of the sandbox: curiosity is one of the most powerful mechanisms that drives a child during this period, and cakes and Easter cakes made from sand can look so appetizing that it is impossible for the baby to hold on to it. The result of such research interest may be a mouthful of sand.

Parents who receive such a “surprise” from their beloved child should remain calm and calmly understand the situation. First of all, you need to take into account that there is hardly a baby who can eat sand, so to speak, to his heart’s content: it does not have a pleasant taste, it squeaks disgustingly on the teeth, and even the tongue can pinch and peel. Therefore, most often the amount eaten turns out to be very small, and parents are more frightened by the dirty face of their son or daughter, smeared to their ears in such “deliciousness.” However, this does not mean that the situation should be left without due attention.

Dear parents, if suddenly, while on a walk, you notice that your child has grabbed a handful of sand from the sandbox, do not panic, just rinse your child’s mouth with water and give him something to drink. Of course, you will think about giving your child anthelmintic drugs, or at least activated carbon. But if you think about it, during the walk the baby has already licked his hands more than once, or some toys from the same sandbox. Therefore, it turns out that a certain set of “microbes” has already been delivered to the body; Well, don’t feed your child pills after every walk.

So you don’t need to be scared, but you shouldn’t ignore this fact either. Be sure to keep an eye on your baby for a couple of days (to see if he feels nauseous, has a fever, or has mucus or green stuff in his stool), if so, go straight to the doctor.

From the first days of his birth, a little man learns to know the world around us, examining it, squeezing a colorful rattle with a tiny hand, touches it, reacts to every sound, growing up a little, he learns the surrounding reality through play with peers. After all play activity she is the leader in the baby’s life. Sometimes it can be difficult to explain to a restless toddler why you shouldn’t put everything in your mouth. The baby can only detect his mother’s dissatisfaction by the intonation of her speech and facial expressions.

WITH one year old Almost all children love to frolic in the sandbox. However, not all parents like the idea of a child crawling in the sand. After all, as a rule, sand fun after a couple of minutes turns into sand rain - sand pours from shoes, clothes, from the head and quite often ends up in the mouth. What to do in a situation where a baby accidentally eats sand?

In medical practice, eating sand is referred to as geophagy (sometimes a similar symptom can be observed in pregnant women, but we are talking about children now). Perhaps your child is hungry or thirsty, watch if he pulls sand from the scoop into his mouth like a spoon, then it’s time for the baby to have lunch.

The easiest way is to go for a walk in the sandbox with a pacifier in your mouth. However this is not best way, since a pacifier can cause addiction in a baby, from which it will be quite difficult to get rid of. Alternatively, try avoiding sandboxes. But keep in mind that you risk encountering this problem a little later. According to psychologists, the main thing is consistency of goals. Every time you see that the child is about to put sand in his mouth, try to distract him. Likewise, over time, your child will lose interest in his favorite “dish.” This method turns out to be more effective if the child is sanding because of prohibitions.

If a child has a love of eating sand three years old, at the same time, he tries to put a brick in his mouth or chew clay, there is a possibility that he has low hemoglobin and does not have enough calcium in his body. Reveal the real reason A detailed blood test and consultation with a pediatrician will help.

How should parents of a child who eats sand behave?

If your baby constantly puts sand in his mouth, he is most likely going through a period of acute sensitivity and craving for small objects. Approach the issue of re-education from a psychological perspective. Play games with water at home, let the baby pour water from the beads into a bucket, together with him sort out the cereals on the floor - beans, pasta, city, let the baby focus on the process and sort them. Moreover, so useful activity quite often practiced in centers early development child, since it is focused on the methodology of a famous teacher in preschool education M. Montesori. Such activities can develop the child’s perseverance, fine motor skills and curiosity.

An alternative to playing in the sand is walking in the park. Take a walk in the park for a while, play active games with your child, give free rein to his movements, if the child shows interest in cubes and various puzzles, take cubes and a pyramid with you for a walk, and instead of having your baby dig in the sand, put them together with him is a house made of cubes, a pyramid. In the game, it is extremely important to support the child and praise him for his first achievements. Be loyal and patient about the education process. After a while you will see for yourself that bad habits disappear on their own.

What to do if a child ate sand on the playground, inhaled sand, or sand got into the baby’s eyes, how to provide first aid to a child and whether you should worry in principle - read the doctor’s advice in our material. When, if not in the summer, children are most often in close contact with sand and earth - in sandboxes, on beaches, in nature. And not all children understand what they can put in their mouths and what they cannot. Therefore, the problem of sand getting into all the easily and hard-to-reach places of the baby is very relevant in the summer.

How to provide first aid to a child if he has eaten or inhaled sand, and if sand has gotten into his eyes, said Associate Professor of the Department of Pediatrics No. 2 of the National Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education named after P.L. Shupika, candidate of medical sciences Valentina Korneva.

If a child ate sand
If a child swallows sand, there is no need to panic and run for anthelmintic medications. First you need to rinse his mouth: give the baby clean water so that he rinses his mouth. If the child is still too small and cannot do this on his own, wrap a cotton napkin soaked in water around your finger and wipe the child’s tongue and teeth.

If sand gets into a child's eyes
If sand gets into a child's eyes, rinsing is necessary. If active lacrimation or redness of the mucous membrane occurs, you should immediately seek specialized ophthalmological help.

If a child inhales sand
The situation is more complicated if a child, while playing on vacation, falls and inhales sand - this state of affairs sometimes requires emergency measures. Because children in this case may have impaired respiratory function, up to the occurrence of laryngospasm - spasm of the glottis.

What to do if a child inhales sand:

you urgently need to throw the child upside down over your arm and help him clear his throat with jerking movements,
rinse your mouth, face, nose, eyes with water,
if possible, drink water,
If the child continues to cough, seek medical attention immediately medical care, since there may be foreign bodies in the respiratory tract.