This activity will help teach children what belongs on the beach. Teach the children about the dangers of littering and how it can affect our environment. I recently looked through my third grade journal, it consisted ENTIRLEY of stories about rocket powered shoes and how I would one day save all the dolphins from fishermen’s nets and other debris commonly found in the ocean (there were about 18 dolphin stories for each story about my rocket powered shoes).
After learning about the dangers of trash in the ocean have the children sort out what belongs on the beach. You can give them a small “trash bag”( write trash on a brown paper sack) and have them clean the beach of everything that does not belong. Here we had a soda can, a net and several pieces from plastic wrappers. For younger children have them sort fish from shapes or pom poms.
Children can create an “Underwater” Viewing Box by cutting the center away from a paper plate. The cutting motions help improve fine motor skills. Allow children to decorate their view box or “tank”, supplying a variety of different supplies, such as string, pipe cleaners, wiggly eyes, pompoms, etc.