Making your next trip to the beach enjoyable as well as educational for your children is easier than you think. It’s just a matter of exploring and making use of the beach’s natural environment. The beach can be a fun atmosphere to practice or revisit a variety of skills and subjects including: math, science, geography, and history.

Here’s a list of discussion topics and activities you can try with your kids at the beach and the skills they help develop.

GEOGRAPHY/HISTORY

• Oceans: Talk about the 5 oceans on the earth in relation to the beach you are visiting.
• Research fun facts about the beach including: the city it’s located in, the number of visitors it has each year, the length in miles of the beach, etc.
• Discuss how beaches are formed using vocabulary words such as: landforms, coastlines, and currents.

SCIENCE/BIOLOGY

• Teach your children about marine ecosystems. Discuss what type of animals live in the ocean and how these creatures breathe underwater.
• Collect items on the beach like sand, seashells, and rocks to make a “sensory” bottle. All you need is a glass jar or plastic water bottle, blue food coloring, and hair gel.

 MATH

• Help your children practice taking measurements by playing the “Measuring Seashells Math Activity”. All you need is a mini measuring tape and a collection of seashells.
• Introduce your child to fractions using seashells. Collect 3-4 different types of seashells and show your child how to identify or create a fraction.

 OTHER

• Plan a scavenger hunt in a designated area. Leave fun facts as clues leading to the next step in the game.