We recently came back from an amazing beach vacation in Florida, where we stayed with my aunt and uncle at the condo where I grew up visiting my grandparents. It was a wonderfully, relaxing experience, and one that I hope we repeat in the coming years.
As one does on a beach vacation, we collected shells of all sorts over the course of the week, adding pounds of weight to our luggage on the way home. Since summer is now upon us, and I’m sure we won’t be the only ones to come home with seashells, I thought I’d put together a little post about how we use them. Seashells can be remarkably useful things with a bit of imagination.
Wash Them
This was our first activity upon coming home. In addition to being very practical (it gets all the sand off), this is a also a fabulous sensory activity. My kids happily sat at the tub of soapy water for an hour rinsing and drying shells. It’s also a great way to beat the heat!
Sink and Float Experiments
While we had the water out to wash our shells, we performed some experiments to figure out which shells would float and which would not. For us this was a very natural extension of washing the shells, and one that William instigated. He practiced placing shells gently on top of the water to see if he could get them to float. If he couldn’t, he would examine them for holes as he discovered that holes make it impossible for objects to float. G was interested in which shapes floated best and if size makes a difference.
Sorting Activities
The possibilities with this are endless and endlessly fascinating depending on your child’s age. William enjoyed sorting out the very large seashells and the very tiny ones. Gianna began her sorting by type and by color.
Seashell Math
Gianna has been glorying in her ability to do addition problems lately, so we started off with some seashell addition, where she simply counted two different groups of shells. Then I showed her what subtraction looked like, and she enjoyed being able to take away shells. The concrete nature of the activity appeals to her, as does the beauty of the objects.
Make Seashell Jewelry
Some of G’s favorite seashells were luckily ones with holes in them. Most of the shells we found had a small hole or two in them. I cut off some lengths of embroidery floss, and let G create necklaces for all the people in her life. The activity is great for her fine motor skills and satisfies her maker heart.