Beach Themed Seashell Transfer Activity

I know earlier this week I shared the first post in our back-to-school series, but for now I am soaking up every minute of summer while I can. I still have a few weeks until the hustle and bustle of school routines kick in, so you can find me daydreaming of cocktails on the beach for a little while longer.

Today’s activity was the perfect way to cool down and could be set up inside or outside. I love to use themes or seasonal items to switch up an activity. Unexpected uses for commonplace items can elevate an activity and help hold attention longer. The seashells were a gift from my mom to the girls a few months ago and they both found it hilarious that we would use them for an activity.

Here’s what you need

• Sensory bin. I seriously use these all of the time. Worth the investment and I wish I would have purchased them sooner. I needed something to fit in the sink for easy cleaning, I love the height for containing messes, and the size is perfect for the kids to help carry when we set up or clean up.

• Slotted spoon

• Seashells. We were gifted some, but you could use just about any item available in a medium-large quantity to you. I love the variety of this set if you wanted to stick with seashells/ocean themed.

• Die/dice. We made this into a game, but you could choose to keep this as a fun activity to step back and observe or participate in while following your child’s lead.

Set up

2 minutes

1. Fill your bin with water and put the seashells in. The kids loved feeling the texture of each shell here.

2. You might want to put a towel or two down to contain any water escaping the spoon or shells.

Clean up

1 minute

1. Let shells dry before storing.

2. Dump out water.

This activity was a wonderful learning opportunity in so many different ways. You can choose to focus on one or more of these as you sit fit and depending on the age or mood of your child.

• All of these shells are beautiful and different. “See how this one has spots/lines/ridges/dark colors/any other feature you can notice?” We had conversations about how much more exciting this is with different looking shells and related that back to how great it is that every person is different. Different is beautiful, fun, and necessary. I gave some examples and let them give me some examples as well.

• Textures or other attributes. Rough, ridges, smooth, shiny, spiral, flat, curved, round, sharp.

• Counting.

• Density. Brinley’s first comment was “They all sink.”

• Animal habitats. “I wonder what kind of animal lived in this shell.”

• Visual motor/fine motor skills with minimal risk. Water is fairly easy to clean up and doesn’t cost much, so I don’t feel wasteful if we end up with a ton of it out of the bin.

• Sorting. Big vs little, dark vs light, patterns, shape, etc.

We started with all of the shells in the water and rolled to see how many each person would scoop out. You can play reverse and see how many each person would get to put in, but that might be harder to scoop.

I thought about using tongs, but didn’t want the shells to drop and break. If the youngest person playing this at my house was 4-5 years old, I would have added tongs, but today I didn’t want to clean up any broken shell pieces. You could use tongs if you didn’t mind shells breaking or had less fragile items.

This was a great activity for me to participate in for a bit (I played 2 rounds) and then have some time to get a snack ready, clean dishes, and start prepping dinner. I think if we got this out again, they would play independently from the start.

I try to remember my goals and intentions for the day. Some days my intentions are to get a lot of chores done. Other days, my intention is to slow down and spend quality time soaking up the fleeting littleness of my children. Some days that goal changes mid-way through the afternoon. As I mentioned in previous posts, it is far too easy for me to constantly be doing or working or cleaning. Slowing down takes effort for me, but I’m always glad when I do.

Our lives really can speed by if we let them. I have been working hard on being intentional with my time and choosing actions that match my values. Do you set intentions? Do you find them helpful? I usually try to set one in the morning and use it like a mantra during the day. Let me know in the comments what your strategies are for staying present and getting work done around the house. I’m always up for a new strategy.

I hope you get a chance to try this activity with your children. It was so easy to set up and clean up. I used it to spend quality time with them AND get some productive things done around the house. I hope you use it in a way that fits your needs for the day.

You may also like…