Hit the Beach!

As I’ve blogged before, Boo is a water baby, so we love adventures on the beach! Back when I was a naturalist, I made a beach, creekside, lagoon, or pond a part of every hike I could. And, naturally, I came up with a lot of beach-centered activities for the groups I worked with.

Many of these beach activities work well with smaller groups, or even just one or two kids. I just posted about four of my favorite beach activities at GNM Parents. Here’s an excerpt from Human Camera, one of my favorites:

You’re going to pretend that you’re a camera and “take pictures” on the beach. Have your child close her eyes and guide her some distance down the beach. Make sure you’ve turned her at least 90 degrees from your original position, too, so the view will be completely different. Then, press the shutter! (That is to say, give your child’s ear a gentle squeeze.) Let her see the scene for about 30 seconds or so. Repeat three times, and then sit down with your child and encourage her to remember everything she can about each “picture.” What objects were in view? What colors? Was it bright or dark? Was anything moving?

Go check out the rest of that activity and three other beach activities at the GNM Parents post!

If you missed it, you might also be interested in three fun outdoor observation activities I wrote about two weeks ago.

Please, give them a try and let me know how they work for you!