We had a great day playing with seashells this week.
There isn’t anything that ropes my kids in faster than seashells they can collect and sort; especially if they are presented in a giant container of sand!
Shell Story – I Can Read Book
To start the day we read a Shell Story together.
The book contains several sight words and sight word pointers to help my little ones start to recognize words.
We also practiced one of our favorite tongue twisters; “She Sells Seashells by the Seashore.”
Counting Shells
Mother Goose Time supplied us with seashells and beach counting cards.
We talked about all the different things you can do with shells including
- collect them,
- paint them,
- make jewelry out of them,
- or live in them if you are a hermit crab!
I hid the seashells in tubs of sand for the kids to dig out and find.
The kids reburied shells for each other and created designs using the shells.
Then we buried the shells again and pulled out our counting cards.
As they found the shells, they placed them on their counting cards to keep track of how many they found.
My three year old happily moved the shells around as he found them and counted them over and over again.
My four year old used her counting sheet with higher numbers to figure out how many total shells she could find.
My little guy at 19 months was just happy to get a chance to play in the sand box while his big brother and sister counted their shells on the higher sensory table.
Seashells – Invitation to Create
We talked a little bit about which shells were our favorites and then we created a home made dough in which to press the shells.
Mother Goose Time provided us with shell noodles, a seashell photo, and paper plate.
I pulled out paint, paintbrushes, and glue from our craft cabinet.
We also made a home made dough using
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 cup sand
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 cups flour
In short, we made a big mess and nothing that we could save for the mantle.
Some may consider that a bit of a disaster and I must say the dough was crazy sticky!
But my kids had a wonderful time making “shell fossils” and painting their creations.
They spent a good half hour creating a joyful mess.
I love happy, dirty kids.
After a quick wash with the hose, we headed inside to read our book for the day, Island Counting 1, 2, 3 by Frane Lessac.
As always, we love sharing our adventures courtesy of Mother Goose Time, both here on the blog and on Facebook and Instagram!
Cheers!
