Nature Play Adventures at the Beach

Each week, the beach becomes a magical adventure for our Kindergarteners as they excitedly explore, seek challenges, investigate their surroundings, and embrace the exhilaration of play with precious and innocent curiosity.

We always begin Beach Kindy with our Acknowledgement of Country on the sand, using tapping sticks we find on the beach. After respecting, acknowledging, and thanking the Turrbal people of our beautiful land, our children hastily race off, with excited giggles, in search of nature’s bountiful resources.

With sandy feet and happy hearts, our children splash, jump and run through the cool water with all the joy and simplicity of childhood. They scatter about, discovering fascinating shells, seaweed, sticks and logs, many tiny fish, giant floating seed pods, blobby-looking jellyfish, and lots of little crabs that tickle their hands when they are picked up for inspection. Our children enjoy drawing in the sand and watching the water trickle to the ocean along small trenches they created with sticks. They love to sit in the water and kick their legs, laughing at the big splashes wetting their cheeks. Our children share many conversations and discoveries as they innocently learn about the world around them in this open-ended Beach Kindy adventure.

In addition to facilitating independent exploration and encouraging scientific investigation, playing in water and experimenting with the properties of sand helps children develop imaginative thinking while boosting their motivation to seek and discover as they engage in vast opportunities for problem-solving.

It is always such a joy to watch our children as they happily embrace the magic of nature play at the beach. The smell of the ocean, the sound of the sea, and the feel of the sand between our toes, there is nothing more soothing and calming for our children on our Beach Kindy days, and these amazing little excursions always offer so much for the wellbeing of our precious children, and also our staff at the Prince Charles Hospital Early Education Centre.

With sandy feet and happy hearts...