Children love to visit the BEACH! The activities offered below are wonderful extension lessons to do after a trip to the beach (or the chance to explore a beach theme if a visit to the beach is not possible.) The beach theme suggestions below are designed for children in Preschool or Kindergarten, but are adaptable for children of differing skill levels.
Shara at Mommy Perks has some great ROAD TRIP suggestions for families! Check out her post if you are taking a trip to the beach (or anywhere!) this summer!
Beach Scavenger Hunt – Beach Items
Print the beach items and laminate for each of the children. At the beach, have the children look to find each of the items. The scavenger hunt is a fun game to reinforce letters/words at the beach. How many of the items can your child find? If it is not possible to go to the beach, let the children look through books/magazines to locate each of the beach items in the file. There is a great list of beach-themed books located in the EXTRA RESOURCES section at the end of this post.
Extension Games to Play: for older children, cut the word and picture cards apart. Have the children work to match the word with the corresponding picture. For younger children, print two copies of the beach items file above. Cut the strips apart and place each strip face down on a table or the floor. Have the children play a memory game by turning two strips over at a time to see if they match. If the strips do not match, both strips are tuned face down and play continues to the next child. The game is over when all strips have been matched.
Beach Theme Counting (pictured above)
Materials needed: Small beach-themed counters/shells, beach-themed plastic cupcake flags, homemade or commercial playdough, and a dry erase marker (to label the cupcake flags).
Label several plastic cupcake flags with any number the children have had introduced. Have the children roll large balls from playdough and then flatten to a “pancake-shape” on a table or playdough mat. Have the children place one labeled cupcake flag on each of the playdough shapes. The children must then press the corresponding number of beach-themed counters into the playdough shape. The children will love playing with the playdough and beach-themed objects! It is a great way to PLAY with one-to-one correspondence and retain basic counting skills over the summer.
Beach Patterning – Blank Pattern Strips
Materials needed: Small Beach-themed items/seashells and the blank pattern strips (linked above).
Print the blank pattern strips above for each child. Set out an assortment of beach-themed items or seashells for the children to use. For very young children, start an AB pattern on the blank pattern strips and see if they can finish the row. Young children might also copy a complete pattern row that has been done for them. For older children, have them make more complex patterns without using the pattern strips.
Roll and Remove Math for Preschool and Kindergarten – Sunshine Math
Materials needed: Sunshine Math file (linked above), permanent or dry erase marker to label the flags, Wikki Stix, and 1-4 dice.
Print the Sunshine Math file for each child and laminate for durability (if laminating supplies are not available, clear contact paper will work). Cut out each of the suns in the file and label with a number the children have had introduced. Place each labeled sun on top of a Wikki Stix to make a numbered flag. Arrange the flags in a random order on a mat or a table top. Have the children roll 1-4 dice. As the children roll the dice, they must count the dots and remove the corresponding numbered sun flag, The game is over when all sun flags have been removed.
Wikki Stix Flip Flop Zipper Pull Craft for Kids
Materials needed: Two colors of Wikki Stix and scissors (safety scissors will work).
Have the children make a spiral shape from two strands of the same color of Wikki Stix (this shape becomes the bottom of the flip flop). The children can cut two small pieces of Wikki Stix from the second color to make top portion of the flip flop (^). Our kids made zipper pulls for their backpacks by attaching a small craft circle to the back of the Wikki Stix flip flops. It’s a fun summer craft for the kids to make!
For MORE Beach Activities including food crafts and Seashell games, visit EXPLORING THE BEACH at Squidoo!
Extra BEACH Resources to check out!
13 Books about the Beach
Scented Homemade Playdough with Jello
Recipe for Play Sand
20 Nature Related Beach Activities for the Whole Family
Beach-themed Sensory Table
Sandy Handprint Keepsake Beach Craft
Seashell Crab Craft for Kids