Sometimes people ask me, what are the benefits of games and activities in the “therapeutic sandbox” in kindergarten? Parents ask. It’s not difficult for me to explain what you can try yourself, and to begin with, I invite a group of parents to build their own fairy-tale world on the sand. I don’t yet know what they will build, but from the experience of past meetings, I know what we will talk about with them after the game. I ask them questions: how did you feel during the game? Did you like everything? Was everything okay? Or did they want something differently? I suggest they change what they wanted, with the consent of the others. This is how we learn to take into account the opinions of others, to negotiate among ourselves, this is how we “from the outside” see our “location” in the community and begin to realize and express our feelings. After all, it’s easier to first talk about someone, about some toy or object that you chose for playing in the sand. We can ask what attracted you to this particular toy, how does it feel? What would you like most? What does he want to be able to do? Can she cope on her own? How will she act? This is how we carefully learn to present needs and monitor our strategies. This is called projective methods of psychological work (from the word “projection” - in the psychological sense, attributing one’s feelings and characteristics to another object - which is easier to talk about than about oneself). We do this so that the child can react and express his feelings, emotions and needs through a toy, through playing with sand. Bulk materials (for example, sand, semolina, dry plant seeds) relax and relieve anxiety. By working with sand, we can more easily access our unconscious processes, so working in a therapeutic sandbox is also working with the deep unconscious. Here you need to follow a number of rules that are taught at seminars on using the sandbox in a psychological and psychotherapeutic manner. But let’s return to the meeting with the parents. With the permission of the others, those who want to change something in the sandbox. I ask everyone to become good wizards and bring to the built world something that will make all the inhabitants happy. The work continues. I ask about emotions and feelings. Everyone is happy. We had one of the options in front of us and a small piece of resource work on sand - “building an ideal world.” I must say that there is another plus in working with sand - these are the boundaries of the work and the boundaries of the sandbox itself. This creates an additional level of safety when working with sand and teaches children to comply with the play and work schedule; in addition, the topic of boundaries is worked out in joint (with a parent or collective) activity. By acting out specific situations from life in the sandbox, you can change your attitude towards them and find making the right decisions for yourself. Playing in a sandbox is like a fairy tale in which a person is a magician and can himself change the life situation that worries him. And then, transfer the construction experience to your real life. Through the sandbox you can see the inner world of a person. For a child, sand therapy is good as correctional, developmental and educational work. Working with sand is also an exercise for tactile sensitivity and harmonization of the child’s psycho-emotional state. After all, it is not always possible to tell an adult about your difficulties, but by plunging into the sand, this becomes possible for him. Sand therapy allows you to: express experiences that are difficult to formulate in words; opens up internal resources for resolving difficulties; makes it possible to try new ways of building relationships and resolving conflicts “The human psyche is inherent in the desire for integrity and self-healing” Dora Kalff. Sandplay therapy is one of the most interesting methods of analytical psychology, based on the ideas of M. Levenfeld, D. Kalf, K. Jung. As a result of a course of sand therapy, anxiety goes away, emotions that distort behavior are eliminated. Playing with sand has a positive effect on the emotional well-being of both children and adults.