A tourable interactive installation of vibrant projected imagery
The Magic Sandpit is an interactive installation of projected imagery onto sand, encouraging all ages to explore colourful imagery through physical play.
This installation is designed to provide multi-sensory experiences for pre-school and early years children. Commissioned by The Library Presents to tour Cambridgeshire’s libraries, it projects images onto sand in layers and as the sand is played with, a depth sensor detects the changes made to the surface of the sand, allowing the children to create amazing colourful, tactile creations as well as dig around to find hidden designs. The sandpit has been constructed to look like a wishing well and is safe for children to use.
The Sandpit was contructed and developed as an R&D project in Autumn/Winter 2022, working closely with local craftspeople in King’s Lynn to ensure the structure was safe and engaging. The content was developed by Collusion’s Savannah Andrews using Tagtool software, creating colour mixes and animated characters that could be projected in layers at different depths onto the sand. The Sandpit was tested as part of a two week residency at Wisbech Library from 17 January to 01 February 2023. As part of the development of the Sandpit, a group of students from the College of West Anglia took part in user testing, providing feedback as part of a work experience activity.
Following a successful residency, The Library Presents commissioned an eight-week tour of The Sandpit in 2023, visiting four Cambridgeshire libraries: Bar Hill, Huntingdon, Chatteris, and Wisbech. Each location hosted the Sandpit for two weeks, accompanied by a 2-hour Tagtool workshop. Over 600 people engaged with the project, which was met with enthusiasm from both children and adults.
“I am a childminder and the children found it absolutely fascinating. They were digging deep for other colours and were super excited when they found the pictures.”
Building on this success, The Sandpit returned in summer 2024 with an expanded tour, bringing the experience to Wisbech, Whittlesey, Milton Road, Papworth, St Ives, and March libraries, attracting over 1,545 visitors across the summer.
“This experience has been wonderful for my 6-year-old, she loved how interactive and engaging it was. She was able to make some friends while having fun. This would be great for schools, preschools, museums – its use is unlimited. Well done and thanks so much.”
Library staff also praised the project for its ability to attract repeat visits and engage children during the summer break:
“It was definitely a fun thing to have for a short period of time and we were lucky in that it coincided with the beginning of the summer holidays.”
“There were several kids who came back more than once specifically for the sandpit.”
The Magic Sandpit offered families and young children living in rural communities a playful entry point into creative tech. Its presence in libraries encouraged informal learning, meaningful social connection and enjoyment, especially during the summer holidays when access to engaging, free activities is limited.
The Magic Sandpit is an adaption of an original concept, the Augmented Reality Sandbox by Oliver Kreylos, UC Davis. This was extended and adapted by TellArt Terraform table for a 2018 installation in the V&A museum. Both these applications focus on terrain modelling and environment science.
Resources
See our Digital Magic Sandpit Padlet for further inspiration and ideal hardware and software to use.
Artists
Producers
Rachel Drury & Rich Hall, Producers
Liam Roberts Associate Producer
Savannah Andrews, Assistant Producer
Natalie Whitney, Assistant Producer
Creative Team
Smelly Cat Creations, Engineering & metalwork
Pia Plum Designs, Upholstery
Rich Hall, Design
Savannah Andrews, Design
Julia C Johnson, Photography
Work experience team
Kory Morgan
Kamil Matejevski
Kay Tibbs
Ash Wright
Theo Cowley
Maddison Bourn
Luke Hamman-Day
