Back in 2102 I blogged about the sand dog sculpture below. I was genuinely delighted at the ingenuity of the person who was creating a dog from a small bag of sand.

In the years that followed I’ve received numerous enquiries from people about whether these dogs are fake – whether it’s a scam. I wasn’t able to publish all posts as some varied from being vaguely racist to down and outright rude about immigrants. I’ve even had a national radio station make a formal enquiry. Who would have thought that such an innocent subject could cause so much controversy.

Anyway in 2016, I was in Edinburgh and to my delight there was a sand dog sculpture. As you can see from the above photo, the dog is only just beginning to be made. It is clearly NOT A FAKE!  Furthermore the person who was creating the dog insisted that I didn’t give him a donation but requested that I gave it to a homeless person further down the street. He also let me poke and prod the half-made dog. It was sand all the way through.

Now, to also debunk any more myths. It was February and the temperatures were below freezing. So four hours later I walk past the same place and a different person is now making the sand sculpture. Look closely. The dog is completely different.  Different person, different dog, same place. Common sense says that shift work will happen. I hope all involved got a hot cup of coffee.

Sand dog 2 Feb 16

Sand Dog Watch – Update 2017 I was in London, January 2017 and happened to be passing this sand dog. Again, I was allowed to touch it, prod it and so on. It is sand. It is different to the other dogs I have seen. I am yet to find a fake dog.

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I hope this ends the debate. I will continue to keep a look out and post photos. Why dogs? My conclusion is that they are the equivalent of snowmen. Everyone builds snowmen from snow. Dogs are easier to sculpt from sand.

Original post from 2012 with a 2021 update

Recently I passed a guy in the street. He had a bag of sand, a bottle of water, an old rag and three different sized paint brushes laid out on a piece of material…

Armed with these materials he set about making this sand sculpture.

It’s great that you can wrap a little sand up, transport it and use it in any wee space.. It reminded me, once again, that it’s perfectly possible to make do with only a little sand and that it can be an interesting and absorbing medium for children and young people of all ages for many investigations and explorations…

  1. Creative sculpting. The range of sculptures one can make is huge. In a play context, seeing what children make and create can also be very interesting. Whilst sand castles are popular, this can morph into other ideas with enough time and provocations. For example showing children photos of sand sculpting competitions and displays can spark the imagination.

2. Using a range of different tools to work with the sand. Brainstorming useful resources to use with the sand. The street artist liked their range of brushes and just a little water. Experimenting with different tools will help children explore the sand as a creative medium.

3. Developing an understanding of the visual elements of art. Exploring sand as a medium for other investigations such as printing, pattern making and line work.

4. The use of sand as a medium for telling a story. Whilst it can be used for creating settings for stories, the sand can be moved and re-shaped as part of the story telling that happens orally before being recorded or captured via writing, video or other means.

5. Sand in a box can be useful for modelling landscape changes. Creating a landscape then watching what happens when it rains and the weathering impact. What happens to hills and mountains? How does the water move through the landscape? Where does the sand end up and why? Remember to take before and after photos.

6. Considering the structure and building materials of bridges. It’s easy to make bridges from sand. And break them. So challenging children to find out what style and size creates a bridge with the strongest load bearing capacity can be an absorbing investigation. They will need to decide how to plan, document and ensure that the experiment is a fair test.

What would you do with a bag of sand?

Sourcing sand

  • Play sand bought in small bags is usually the most expensive way to purchase sand, even when supermarkets are promoting it as a special offer. Instead look for a local supplier and buy more less often.
  • You need white sand with a rounded particle profile and a grain size maximum of 1.25mm with a high proportion of fines.
  • Do not buy builder’s sand which may contain a dye. You can check this be rubbing a piece of white cloth with wet sand.
  • Avoid crushed stone and sharp sand which are less play friendly. When calculating the quantity, an online calculator can be helpful such as this guide for calculating the amount of sand you think you will need.
  • Remember to lift and move sand with care in line with your manual handling procedures and policy. Teach your children to do this safely too.
  • NEVER take sand from a beach.
  • For more information about sand in schools and early years settings have a look at this blog post.

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