Inspired by Teach Preschool's DIY light table, I decided to make one for Kay. While she spent a couple of nights at her grandparents' house, I played around with different boxes. Eventually I settled on a clear bin, with the sides covered in tin foil. For a light I used a simple push light, because that's all I could find when inspiration struck. And if I didn't make it at that moment, I knew I would be putting it off forever.
I tested it several times, adding some glass gems to see how they would look, and I thought it was pretty, but no way was it going to hold Kay's attention. Sometimes it seems like I don't even know the child.
I started setting it up in the afternoon, not telling her anything. She just watched as I covered the floor in towels and brought out the colored salt (made by mixing it with sidewalk chalk - came out very pretty, even though it doesn't look it in the pictures). I turned the overhead light off, and pushed the light box one on. I let her pour the salt into a clear plastic tray. I had brushes on hand and showed her how she could make letters with them in the salt, but she went right in with her hands.
I started setting it up in the afternoon, not telling her anything. She just watched as I covered the floor in towels and brought out the colored salt (made by mixing it with sidewalk chalk - came out very pretty, even though it doesn't look it in the pictures). I turned the overhead light off, and pushed the light box one on. I let her pour the salt into a clear plastic tray. I had brushes on hand and showed her how she could make letters with them in the salt, but she went right in with her hands.
After a moment she said, "This is just like Nina and Star!" (If you have a young child and have cable, you'll know she was talking about the Sprout station, where Nina tells stories to Star each night, drawing pictures in sand.) So that's the direction she took, moving the salt around, making up stories. She got curious about how I had colored the salt, so we went outside and I showed her how to do it.
When we came back in she mixed all the colors together and told some more stories. I also added a funnel made from a green soda bottle that looked very nice on the light box too.
After quite awhile I insisted we put it away, just because I didn't want her to get bored with it. As we turned the overhead light back on and started to put things away, she said, "That was so cool." Yes, indeed. I agree.
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