Planning Sheet for Theme: Beach
Areas to Address / Possible Content or Play Activities / Toys or MaterialsCognitive
Memory / ● Memory of objects hidden in the sand
● Use past experiences to decide how to act in specific situations (e.g. what to do at the beach) / ● Sandbox, little toys
Problem solving / ● Categorize shells by size, shape, color
● Balance objects on top of each other / ● Seashells
● Nesting pails
Social Cognition / ● Incorporates others into dramatic play and understands what the other intends / ● Beach-related dramatic play toys (hat, sunglasses, towel, beach ball, etc.)
Complexity of Play / ● Pretend play (e.g. riding a wave, deep sea diving) with symbolic use of toys
● Play a group game with rules at the beach (tag, hide and go seek) / ● Boogie board or plank
● Scuba mask
● Accordion tube
Math/Science / ● use shells for rote and meaningful counting, comparing textures and making patterns
● know what objects go together, sort objects into groups (ie sea animals from farm animals), combine related objects / ● shells
● plastic animals (include sea and other animals)
Literacy / ● story recall, relate pictures to own experiences
● make visual representations of animals / Books: House for Hermit Crab
Rainbow Fish
non-fiction books; fish, sharks,
whales
Writing: paper, markers, foil, scissors
Language/Communication
Vocabulary / ● Practice labeling items on the “beach”
● Hide shells of varying size, color in the sand to discover and use sentence structures “I see _____.” or “I found _____.” (increasing the sentence length depending on ability of child) / shell, sticks, crab, sea gull, sand, bucket, shovel
Pragmatics / ● Practice requesting and turn-taking “I want _____.” or “I need ______.” (increasing the sentence length depending on ability of child)
● Practice commenting “I have ______.” / ● shell, sticks, crab, sea gull, sand, bucket, shovel
Sensorimotor
Gross motor / ● crawl on belly like a sea turtle.
● crab walking
● stand on one leg like a bird.
● playing catch with a beach ball
● kicking a beach ball / ● Beach ball
Fine Motor / ● put on/off flip flops, sunglasses, hat - dressing skills
● find seashells in sand box - pincer grasp
● tracing lines, letters, numbers, etc. in sand - finger isolation, pre-writing skills
● pretend camera - finger isolation / ● flip flops, sunglasses, straw hat
● sand box, seashells
● pretend or old camera
● flashlight
Sensory / ● sand box
● rub pretend suntan lotion
● beach music
● “dry” skin with terry cloth / ● sand box with shovel, sifter, bucket
● empty bottle
● cd player and cd’s
● washcloth or hand towel
Vision / ● beach ball play - eye hand coordination
● flashlight can be used as the sun - make hand puppets with shadow / ● beach ball
● flashlight
Emotional and Social
Expression / ● Produce complex facial expressions in response to various situations (e.g. fear when a shark is near, happiness during beach play, etc.) / ● None
Adaptation / ● Look for buried treasure on a map; navigate various obstacles, perform different tasks along the way / ● Treasure map
● Gold coins or other treasure
● Treasure Chest
● Toy Key
Regulation / ● Follows directions and rules of games and activities during hidden treasure quest (e.g. jump 3 times then stop, clap twice, climb the stairs and back down, complete the puzzle, etc.) / ● Treasure map
● Puzzles
● Treasure Chest and Key
Internal conflicts, if concern
Social interactions / ● Cooperative, group games with others / ● Sand castle toys, beach balls
NC Early Learning Network is a joint project of the NC Department Of Public Instruction, Office Of Early Learning
and UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute