A Day at the Beach

Children love to use their imagination. Read the following story and have the child act out the activities in parenthesis. This has them using their imagination as well as being active!

- Today we are going to take a trip to the beach!
- We wake up early and see the bright yellow sun shining (Yawn and Stretch)
- We put on our blue bathing suit and hat, and slide into our flip-flops (Pull on swim suit, put on hat and flip-flops)
- Now it's time for the most important meal of the day, BREAKFAST. We need a good breakfast to have energy for our busy day at the beach. Let's have a banana and cereal with milk. (Peel banana, eat cereal) Yum!
- Before we go to the beach we need to brush our teeth (put toothpaste on toothbrush and brush teeth)
- Now, we are ready to go! Let's get in the car, put on our seat belt and drive to the beach. (Climb into the car, buckle seat belt, and steer the wheel)
- We park the car and get everything out: shovel, bucket, picnic basket, umbrella, and beach bag. (lift items out of the car)
- Walk up the steps and onto the white sandy beach. Is the sand hot? Thank goodness we have on our flip-flops. (Walk up the steps and out onto the sand)
- Spread out the towel, put up the umbrella, and place our bucket and shovel in the sand. (spread towel, push umbrella in sand, stick shovel in sand)
- It's so sunny out! We need to put on our sunscreen, don't forget your ears and nose. (Rub sunscreen on face, arms and legs)
- Finally, it's time to play in the water. Let's race to the water's edge! Hold my hand! (Run in place)
- Splashing and swimming in the ocean is so much fun! Try to jump over the waves. (Splash ,swim, and jump)
- All this swimming has made me hungry, how about a picnic? (Get out of water and dry off)
- Let's see what's in our picnic basket. We have turkey sandwiches, grapes, vanilla wafers, celery sticks with peanut butter and lemonade. (Lift food out of the basket)
- I think we should try some of everything! (Eat and drink) Isn't it great? We are so hungry.
- Now it's time to take a walk down the beach and look for seashells. Let's get the bucket, put on our flip-flops and start walking. (Grab bucket, slide on flip-flops, walk in place)
- Have you found a pretty shell? Look for a white, brown, or pink one. (bend down and pick up shells and put in bucket, comment on shell gathering, for example "Sally, have you found any pretty shells?")
- Look out in the water. It's a dolphin swimming! Can you swim like a dolphin? (Swim and jump like a dolphin)
- Look in the sky. There's a seagull! See how they flap their wings then glide. (flap arms and glide like a seagull)
- Let's build a sandcastle. Get out your bucket and shovel and dig! (Grab bucket and dig)
- Look at what time it is. It's time to go. Say goodbye to the beach. (Wave to the waves) We can't wait to come back another day!