Sand Tray & Miniatures Kit: Source List

Sand Tray is one of my favorite modalities for Play Therapy.  When the world came screeching to a halt during COVID-19 I blogged HERE about non-tech ways to do sand tray.  Although there are some programs out there that allow you to have a virtual sand tray experience, I could never give up the tactile and kinesthetic value of the sand.  In short…I couldn’t leave the sand behind.
 
I wanted to share with you my source list for putting together Play Therapy Kits, and this segment will focus on the Individual Sand Tray Kits I created including all the supplies such as the tray, sand, and miniatures.  I talked about the pros and cons of a play therapy kit HERE and how they are great for sending to young people’s homes for Tele-Play therapy, in the office to prevent OR to be honest if you are just starting out in Play Therapy and need a kit that is inexpensive and portable. 
 
If I am getting really real here, my office houses carefully selected toys gathered over 10+ years as a Play Therapist and at the end of the day it is a big investment to fully stock a Play Room. Want to know more about setting up your play therapy office?  Check out this training HERE!
 
I wish I knew the things I knew now when I was starting about how to gather a comprehensive but inexpensive (I mean inexpensive relative to a fully stocked play room) set of toys and play materials. This was the challenge as I faced the fact that I am not going back into office in the foreseeable future AND was feeling a desire to provide children with the tools needed to express themselves. 
 
As I said HERE the families that I work with have done a Rockstar job at gathering appropriate toys, BUT I can’t expect them to have all the toys and categories needed.  As Garry Landreth famously said toys are the children’s words, and play is their language.  I like to add to this that we need to make sure that we have enough words (ie toys) represented so children can express themselves.
 
I wanted to provide this source list (below) for my sand tray and miniature toys for my Play Therapy Kits.  I use categories drawn from this Sandplay text HERE (which is one of my favorite texts) including people, animals, plant life, minerals, environments, transportation, and misc. objects. These minis also fit nicely within Garry Landreth’s categories of toys in his text HERE on Child Centered Play Therapy. The kits are inspired by his paired down version of a playroom in his "Tote Bag Playroom" section! 
 
Container:
I chose these containers HERE because they could house the sand tray on the bottom and have plenty of room on top for miniatures.  The case stacks together with a handled lid on top.  I was a bit remiss that the plastic wasn’t blue, but made sure that each kit contained blue vase filler to represent bodies of water if needed. 
 
Check out alternative Sand Tray container with 10 Low Cost Options HERE!
 
The Sand:
I chose the Sandtastik 25 Lb box, which had enough sand for 8 kits.  It's not a TON of sand in each, but enough. 
 
Amazon/Target Miniatures:  

• Disney Princesses
• Food Erasers
• Gems
• Wild Animals *I made sure each kit had at least one predator and one animal that could be preyed upon 
• Domestic Animals * I made sure there was at least three of one type of animal in each kit  (ie three chickens or three cows in addition to other domestic animals)
• Wooden people miniatures
• Bridge
• Hearts
• Fairy Pack
• Trees  *I cut the bottoms off to make them more stable
• Solid Colored People
• Multicultural Baby/Pacifier Set *yes these look a bit odd BUT my young people LOVE these
• Dragon
• Wooden People
• Dragon/Fairy/Unicorn Set
• Monsters *this beautiful monster is a fill in model as the sourced ones are taking a bit longer to arrive at my doorstep.  This big guy is one of my favorites!
• Fences *these were bigger than I intended but I LOVE that they can span the whole length of the tray if needed!
• Treasure Chests

 
Dollar Tree Items:

• Fire Fighter Set (One ambulance, 3 fire fighters, 2 fire dogs, 3 traffic signs)
• Construction Vehicles (2 pack)
• Skeletons (4 pack)
• Bones (10 pack)
• Shells (20+)
• Cars (3 pack)
• Army Men (multiple pack with two colors)
• Pet Set (mini dog, mini cat, pet carrier, pet bed, pet dish, comb and in one package)
•  Furniture (table and four chairs)
• Ponies/Unicorns (multi set)
• Trophy (6 pack)
• Superman
• Batman
• Dice (8 pack)
• Plane (2 pack)
• Skull (8 pack)
• Blue vase filler (large multipack - enough for 10+ trays)
• Flowers (one flower with multiple smaller flowers attached)
• Bugs

**The Dollar Tree also has many other objects and miniatures to purchase including little Lego type guys (2 pack), other single figures such as Finding Nemo, Barbies, Incredibles, Micky/Minnie Mouse, etc. Most of these aren’t found online and you might have to go to several stores to get everything you might want.
 
Crafted/Found Items:

• Wooden Houses (2) *whatever you choose for houses having two is very important.  Check out these ones HERE if making your own isn’t an option.
• RIP Signs (tutorial HERE)  
• Birch Bark
• Drift Wood
• Rocks

So here is the breakdown –each kit contains over 125 miniatures and cost just under $50.00. Although I didn’t base mine on this one HERE, it contains a lot of the same miniatures. However, this one only has 90 miniatures and costs twice the price. I'm a bit biased but I think mine is waaayyyy cooler. The other thing to note is that Amazon's prices can change and although I got some ahhhmazing deals they might not always stay that way!  I also bought for multiple kits which made the price significantly less per kit than if I had to buy everything for one kit. 
 
So there you have it, the complete source list for a pretty comprehensive sand tray kit for virtual, office, or wherever!
 
What is your favorite miniature that you couldn’t live without?  Drop a comment below!   

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