A Sand & Water Area should provide lots of opportunity for mixing, stirring, heaping, dumping, digging, filling, emptying, pouring, patting, sifting, molding, and splashing, as well as making pretend cakes, houses, roads, and lakes for floating.

Play materials for this area include containers, tools, and toys for filling and emptying, floating, 
and pretending; alternatives to sand and water; waterproofing gear; and cleanup tools.  Allow the children to bring things to the sand/water table from other areas, such as rubber dolls from the house area to bathe and boats they have made at the workbench.

Fill-and-emply materials:
buckets, plastic food containers, cookie cutters, plastic pump and squeeze bottles, poultry basters, measuring cups, plastic tubing, strainers, scoops, tongs, sifters, colanders, funnels, sieves, cake pans, muffin tins, plates, spatulas, shovels, trowels, scoops, spoons; 

Floating materials:
corks, sponges; stones, shells; popsicle sticks, twigs; styrofoam bits and pieces; 

Pretend-play materials:
rubber animals and people, plastic dishes, boats, cars, trucks and construction vehicles, sea creatures, plastic worms, dinosaurs, plastic insects, plastic blocks, large beads, mirrors

Other Manipulatives:

magnifying glass with objects to examine -- cotton batting, scouring pad, a leaf a sponge, piece on linen writing paper, piece of wax paper, piece of vinyl, patterned glass marble; 

a scale with objects to load/balance - rocks, pieces of wood, poker chips, tokens, pennies, cotton balls;

Alternatives to sand and water:
chestnuts, leaves, pine needles; shells; pebbles and stones; pea gravel; marbles; snow; water and soap bubbles; shaving cream; cotton balls,  Jell-O, oatmeal,  ooblic, shredded paper,  fur scraps,  felt scraps,  TP Tubes,  leaves,  dirt, hay or straw, ribbon, real snow, newspaper, yarn scraps, paper scraps, wet dirt, lids, tissue paper, sandpaper, cornmeal, fabric pieces, wet sand, zippers, cut up sponges, straws, popcorn mixed with rock salt or plain popcorn kernels, rice, beans, colored sand, ice cubes, 

Waterproof gear and cleanup materials:
waterproof smocks; rubber boots and waders; towels, sponges; whiskbroom and dustpan; battery-operated hand-held vacuum
 
 

Recipe for Ooblic:
Mix together corn starch and water (2 parts starch to one part water), add food coloring if desired.  It will appear to be watery, but when you touch it, it is just on the surface.  You can use your fingers to dig up semi-solid pieces, and as long as you manipulate it with your fingers it remains somewhat solid.  As soon as you let it sit in your hand, it will "melt" and run through your fingers!  Kids love the "magic"!