Materials:

• 1 big sheet of paper
• 1 sheet of sandpaper
• 5-10 small shells (you can draw and cut some out if you do not have any available)
• Cotton balls
• small amount of toothpaste
• goldfish
• glue
• crayons/markers

Directions:

1. Have your child draw a beach scene complete with sand, water, sun, and clouds. If your child is too small for this, have them point where they would like beach features to be on the paper.
2. Cut the sandpaper and glue on the sand part of the beach.
3. Squeeze a small amount of the toothpaste and smear where the water will be. Add the goldfish.
4. Glue the cotton balls on the clouds and glue the shells along the beach sand.
5. Color/decorate to create your child’s desired scene.

Educational Activities:

• Language Arts: 1. Complete the craft on a rainy day and sing the nursery rhyme “Rain Rain Go Away”. Nursery rhyme knowledge has been proven to aid in a child’s reading ability later in school. 2. Discuss the different beginning letters of objects in your scene (s for sand, c for cloud, etc).
• Science: 1. If you complete the activity on a rainy day you can discuss the water cycle and add rain drops to your beach scene. The 4 parts of the water cycle are evaporation (from sun), condensation (clouds), precipitation (rain), and collection (ocean). 2. Discuss habitats with your child and that the beach provides many animals a home. 3. Discuss the 5 senses and how they can be used in this craft. Taste: Have your child taste the toothpaste and goldfish Touch: Have your child handle and tell you how each material feels (sandpaper is rough, shells are smooth, etc). Smell: The toothpaste scent. Hearing: Discuss the sounds you hear at the beach (waves crashing, seagulls, etc). Sight: Describe what you see at the beach.
• Math: 1. Count the number of objects in the scene. Have your child point to/touch each object as they count. 2. Have them identify which set has more or less (there should be more cotton balls and less fish and shells). 3. Use extra materials and have your child sort them by characteristics.
• Social Studies: Discuss the scene with your child using different directional words (above, below, left, right).

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