This week, our learning will focus on sand and all the exciting experiences children can enjoy at the beach. As always, planning will be adapted to meet the individual interests, abilities, and developmental needs of each child. Keyworkers will work closely with their key groups, encouraging the children to learn through exploration, play, and discovery.

Throughout the week, the children will enjoy a range of hands-on sand activities designed to develop their curiosity and imagination. They will explore different types of shells and key workers will help with encouraging counting, sorting, and matching skills while learning about the types of shells that can be found along the seashore.

Our sensory play will include creating a large sand tray filled with hidden beach-themed objects for the children to search for. The children will also enjoy mark making in the sand, using their fingers and a variety of tools to create patterns, shapes, letters, and drawings.

Children will work together in groups to build sandcastles using buckets, moulds, and other seaside tools. This activity helps to develop fine motor skills and sharing skills, while having lots of fun.

To complete our beach-themed week, we will share a selection of seaside stories, encouraging discussions about beach visits, holidays, shells, sand, and the many exciting things that can be found by the sea. These shared stories will help to develop the children’s language, imagination, and love of reading as they continue their seaside adventures.