We do like to be beside the seaside!
For young children, a trip to the seaside can provide opportunities for learning and development as part of the The Prime Areas of Learning – TLC.
All the new experiences that come with a visit to the beach support your child’s personal, social and emotional development, helping them feel a sense of achievement from trying something new.
The seaside is not just for summer, it provides opportunities for learning and fun all year round. Wrap up warm, put on wellies and enjoy a visit at any time of the year!
Top tips:
- New vocabulary: introduce new words to your child such as paddle, waves, seaweed, pier, sandcastle – help your child understand these new words by commenting on what they are doing, such as ‘you are digging a big hole’, ‘look at the sandcastle’ and ‘listen to the waves’
- Listening skills: encourage your child to listen to all the sounds they can hear, from the lapping waves to the screeching gulls
- Mark making: support your child to mark out shapes or letters in the sand with a spade, stick, or their fingers
- Counting: using money to buy an ice cream or sorting shells by colour or size offer further ways of developing your child’s early maths
- Get creative: your child can decorate sandcastles with shells and seaweed, or draw pictures of some of the things they have seen at the seaside
- Share a story: the simple pleasure of reading a book beneath a parasol – you could also take a Read and Count With Me By the Sea – TLC borrow bag with you
- Natural resources: make numbers or words with pebbles and shells
- Other activities: there are many opportunities for your child to run and jump, kick a ball around, throw pebbles into the sea, fill buckets with water or sand, or even fly a kite
- Use our checklist called 50 Things to Do Before You’re 5 – TLC: you’ll be able to tick a few things off this, and also use the spotter sheet to see how many items you can find at the beach!
