About SandTots
Small children can't yet read a clock, but they can watch a thing get smaller. SandTots turns time into something you can see: a big pie of colour that drains while you wait, brush your teeth, or take a turn. When it's gone, it's simply gone — Dune the fennec fox yawns, and that's the end. No alarm, no flashing, no sound-shock.
A timer you can see empty
Pick a little (2 minutes), a while (5), or a long time (10) — or a grown-up sets the exact minutes. Watch the sand go. It's the laminated visual timer teachers and occupational therapists have used for years, made from light, flat shapes that run on any school tablet.
The one big idea
Waiting is hard when you can't see how long is left. When you can see it — half gone, nearly gone — waiting gets easier, and turns feel fair. That's the whole of it: duration you can watch.
Whose timer is it?
It's the child's timer. They set it for a grown-up ("read me one more page — this long") as often as a grown-up sets it for them. It is never a way to hurry a child; it's a way to make waiting visible for everyone.
What it's good for (and what we don't claim)
SandTots is gentle practice for waiting, turn-taking, and a first feel for "half gone." It is not a lesson or a behaviour app, and we make no claim it changes behaviour or raises anything. It's an honest little timer.
Safe by design
- On your device. Nothing is saved off this device — no account, no sign-in, nothing sent anywhere.
- No dark patterns. No streak, no score, no "how many times," and nothing to buy or unlock.
- No alarm. The timer just empties; the fox yawns. Calm on purpose.