Throw an Indoor Beach Party
Whether it is the heart of winter or a rainy summer day, the children are showing signs of cabin fever and you looking for a way to break those bad weather doldrums. Maybe it is time for an indoor beach party!
Regardless of how cold and dismal it is outside you can bring a little bit of summertime fun and sun to the day.
Set the Stage
There are many ways to set the stage for your party. You can decorate the room with beach towels, umbrellas, seashells or anything else one could see at the beach. Everyone can wear beach attire, sandals, and even funky sunglasses. A good choice of background music will add to the mood; maybe steel drums or a Beach Boys tape.
Games and Activities
"Lifeguard, lifeguard, where's your whistle?"
This is a simple variation of the old favorite, "Doggy doggy where's your bone?"
Volleyball, the standard beach game, can be brought indoors by using an inflatable beach ball. For younger children or small rooms, have everyone sit and volley the ball within the circle.
Imagination pantomime. Encourage children to use their creativity and move the way you suggest. Pretend you are swimming in the ocean waves. Pretend you are walking barefoot over the hot sand. Pretend you are surfing. Pretend you a crab and do the crab walk (to do the crab walk you need to sit on the floor and rise up and walk backwards on your hands and feet).
Have a scavenger hunt for seashells. Use paper shapes if you can't get real ones.
Read At the Beach by Anne and Harlow Rockwell. Afterward find out if any students have ever been to the beach. Ask them to tell about their experiences--the things they did or saw at the beach. Encourage those students who have not been to the beach to tell about an imaginary beach experience.Write their responses on a strip of brown butcher paper edged with blue wave, label with child's name, have each child illustrate and autograph them and display with the title "At the Beach"
Enforce critical decison making and organizational skills by having them pack a bag for a beach adventure. To prepare, gather a large beach bag and an assortment of items that mya be used at the beach, such as sunglasses, sunscreen, a beach towel, swimsuit, a pail and shovel. Add some other unrelated items such as blocks, a flashlight and a coat. Invite each student to select an appropriate item to pack in the bag to take to the beach. Have them explain why they chose the item. Set the bag aside for other activities later.
Read Sand Cake by Frank Asch. Prior to reading the story, partially fill a plastic swimming pool or several dishpans with sand. Place a plastic shovel and pail, a variety of sand molds, a water filled spray bottle and a few natural items, such as sticks, feathers, and leaves near each sand container. Read the book and invite pairs of students to use the materials to create sand pictures and lots of imaginary recipes and characters. Encourage each child to tell his partner about his creations.
Craft Projects
Sand drizzles.
Simple project children of all ages can do. Drip, drizzle and swirl white craft glue on heavy construction paper or cardboard. Then sprinkle sand over the top, shake off the excess and let dry.
Ocean in a bottle.
In a small jar combine vegetable oil with a drop of blue food coloring. Children can then add various materials such as driftwood and shells.
Make decorative fans to cool them selves off with in case there is no breeze.
Songs and Rhymes
"5 Little Seagulls"
5 little seagulls sitting on the beach.
One walked along the shore,
then there were four.
4 little seagulls sitting on the beach.
One hid behind a tree,
then there were three.
3 little seagulls sitting on the beach.
One got up and flew,
then there were two.
2 little seagulls sitting on the beach.
One went to have some fun,
then there was one.
1 little seagull sitting on the beach.
she went to chase the sun,
then there were none.
"We are Going to the Beach"
(to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb)
We are going to the beach,
to the beach to the beach to the beach.
We are going to the beach, we're gonna have some fun.
I shall like to swim all day, swim all day, swim all day.
I shall like to swim all day, then lay out in the sun.
I will build a castle here, castle here, castle here.
I will build a castle here, I'll have the tallest one.
I'm Going to the Beach
(tune: The Farmer in the Dell)
I'm going to the beach,
I'm going to the beach.
I think I'll see a (lifeguard) there,
I'm going to the beach.
(Have the children substitute other appropriate words that you have already discussed and listed for the bracketed word)
Books
A Beach Day, Douglas Florian
One Sun: A Book of Terse Verse, Bruce McMillan
A House for Hermit Crab, Eric Carle
Sea Squares, Joy N. Hulme
