Oh, I do love to be beside the seaside! (Picture heavy)

Possum is 4 years 5 months

Bandicoot is 2 years 3 months

The beginning of October saw us taking a break from our Garden Unit as we spent a two week family holiday at the beach.

I had been excessively enthusiastic preparing materials and activities for this break – who doesn’t get excited about a beach holiday in Spring time?  As it happens, this was not in vain…  Of the two weeks we were away, we only had three "beach" days!

Here are some of the activities that we did:

This was the activity table we had set up.  I was so excited to have the space to actually set up a table like this.  Looking around the table, this is what is displayed:

• Sea-shell mandalas to colour (the boys ended up not doing this, but I sure enjoyed it!)
• Our ice-cream shop (We had planned this as our holiday location had a fantastic gelato shop.)
• Bottle-top fishing
• Sand playdough
• Wind-up fishing game
• Sealife sticker album
• Teddy bear foamies (I had thought that they would like to do this with their big cousins, but we didn’t end up using them.)
• Umbrella poke (also unused and ready to pull out one day in summer)
• Sea-shell counting
• Sea creature gems

So here we go with the adventures!

This was another idea I had.  I had seen it on quite a few sites, mostly with Montessori influence.  Unfortunately, Possum was not interested in the closed-end nature of the activity (although he had been very excited to learn it involved marbles).  He only did it once.

THIS, however, was a WINNER.  Amazing what you can get for just a few dollars, sometimes.  Both weeks of the holiday were spent at places known for fishing, and Possum especially had been very excited to give it a go.  They had new rods and all sorts of goodies – just no weather to do it in.  (And all the rain was making the run of the fish in the rivers unpredictable.)  This game was played until it fell apart.  Then we bought a baby size screw driver, fixed it, and it was played some more!

Fishing with Nana (my Mum)

Possum catches a fish…  And so does Bandicoot!

Here is one that Bandicoot loved.  He kept coming back to it time and again:

The idea was that they could sort the shapes into the bowls by colour or shape.  He just loved playing with them, spreading them out, pouring them.  Who can blame him?  Don’t they just look lovely?

Setting up with cousin Mel  Loading the tip truck   Pouring.

I was especially happy with this one.  I made my own number cards for counting with sea-shells (I managed to get the bags of shells at a $2- shop).

Possum really enjoyed it.

And how about this idea?  Jellyfish!  While we were away with the extended family, it was my Parents’ Wedding Anniversary.  My Dad passed away many years ago, but we still feel it is important to celebrate.  My parents taught us that it was about the beginning of our family unit, not just about them.

Anyway, having celebrated with the most delightful strawberry sponge sandwich from the local bakery, we were left with two white circles of cardboard.  My sister picked up some crepe paper streamers and look at what she made with the boys!

Did somebody mention playdough???

My boys are absolutely nuts for playdough.  I decided to make some "sand playdough".  They have had a lot of fun with it, but I am really not happy with the texture.  It just seems a bit too sticky to me, especially if we have humid or wet weather.

Still, it isn’t stopping the boys!!

This game:

was an absolute hit!  It is so simple, but so much fun.  It is also easy to take on holidays because you only need to take the bottle caps – a holiday house will provide a bowl and some kind of a slotted spoon.

 

 

 

 

 

We didn’t get around to this one during the first week, but, as you can see, the holiday house we had during our second week had an almost purpose built location for this game.

(Yes that is a magnificent beach directly across the road.)

These sticker albums also did not get used until the second week of the holidays.  We opened them as a "cafe activity" one day when we went out to lunch.  The boys really had fun with them.   Having the album was great for Bandicoot, too.  He is really just getting in to stickers.

They enjoyed discussing all the different sea-life.   (Especially Possum, who then enjoyed explaining to Bandicoot.)  They were also excited that there was a squid sticker, as they had just discovered that they are mad for Salt and Pepper Calamari!

Oh, and I nearly forgot to explain the winner amongst winners – the Ice Cream Shop!  How can kids have so much fun with something so simple?  Three months later and they are still mad for it!

Well, it does look intriguing, doesn’t it?

Oooo!  And all those pretty colours!  (The coloured pom-poms have sparkly bits on them, too.)

It can be hard work getting that ice cream in the cone, but oh, so satisfying when you’re done!  Here’s one for you! 

Tags: Bandicoot, beach, fishing, Possum, preschool, sealife, SWR, toddler, unit study, Yamba