Homemade Friday-Sand Timers

This is really about different things you can do with tornado tubes. You know the little plastic piece that allows you to screw together two soda bottles, filling one with water, and make a tornado? Well, they have many more uses. One great fun use is to make sand timers. You can find them anywhere, but I usually like to stop by this booth at the conferences and pick some up. I also like to use the smaller bottles because they are easier for the children to handle. I find the big 2 liter bottles are very awkward for the little hands.

Anyway, to make a timer, I like to get some nice clean, dry sand. You can even buy colored sand at some craft stores that work wonderfully! It can get a bit pricey, but in the end I think it's worth it. So, with this sand, you have to make sure the the bottles and sand are very very dry. I would go so far as to leave the bottles open in the sun daily for a few days (making sure to bring them inside when the sun goes away) and, if you are using sand from your playground, lay it out on a tray and do the same as with the bottles. Then, use a funnel to fill one bottle with the sand. If you want, you can add glitter or confetti to the bottle as well. This is always engaging to the children when they are looking at it. Next, screw the bottles to the tornado maker. You now have your very own sand timer.

Let the children experiment with how much sand they want to put in. Use different types of sand and see which one falls faster. There's endless possibilities!