High-tide mark

If you walk along the high-tide mark, you find lots of debris washed up there. Notice the sea-birds scavenging around, looking for food. Look out for different kinds of seaweed, shells, crab shells, sea urchins, cuttlefish and possibly other sea creatures (especially following storms). Sadly, you will all too often find plastic and glass rubbish as well, washed ashore from boats. When out for tar from split oil.
This a good opportunity to remind your child about the necessity for taking rubbish home and disposing of it carefully, in order to avoid this kind of pollution. Emphasize the dangers of plastic, glass and oil to humans, birds and sea life.

Pebbles & Driftwood

On most beaches, you will find a selection of pebbles. Notice how many of these have been rounded and made very smooth by the effect of the sea rolling them around. Point out how dull most pebbles look when they are dry and how beautiful when wet. You will often find driftwood on the beach. Notice how this has also been made very smooth by the action of the waves and is sometimes molded into the most beautiful shapes. Do these shapes remind your child of anything in particular?
Ask your child to describe some dry pebbles on the beach. What color are they and are they shiny or dull? Ask him to put the pebbles in a bucket full of water. What do they look like when he takes them out of the water? What has caused them to look so different? Can you child think of other things which look very different when they are wet or dry? (Roof tiles, paving stones, kitchen floors).

Patterns in the sand

As you walk along a sandy shore at low tide, notice the ridges in the sand. Ask your child if he can tell you what has caused these. Discuss the effect of the waves on the sand as they roll in and out. Look out for sand pitted by recent rain storms and swirly patterns made by shells being spun round in the waves. Can your child tell you who or what has made various footprints in the sand (humans, dog and birds)? Point out sand that has been blown by the wind into huge sand dunes or tiny peaks. Show your child the coarse grass that often grows on dunes and the stones that often appear at the top of tiny peaks.

Waves and spume

On windy days, on exposed beaches, you will be able to see huge waves out to sea and breaking on the shore. Point out the undersides of the waves as they break. They will often look quite yellow as they pick up the sand on sandy shores. Notice how quickly the breaking waves come in, ending with a frothy cream that up the shore.

When you are exploring beaches at low tide, remind children how important it is to keep an eye on the tide coming in. where beaches are flat, it can approach faster than an adult can walk, making these beaches potentially dangerous. When you are watching the waves, remember to do this from a safe distance so that there is no danger of your child being caught in the undertow, as the water recedes.

Color

At first, young children tend to think in terms of simple colors – blue, green etc. – without distinguishing between different shades and hues. Most will be able to identify different colors but will not readily think beyond that. They need encouragement and practice to be able to distinguish and appreciate different shades.

Provide children with a small pot of white and black poster paint, two pots of paint in a primary color of your choice, three small paintbrushes – one for each color – several sheets of paper, a mixing palette shades of color by challenging then to make as many different shades as they can by adding progressively, white paint and black paint. Start by painting a patch of pure color on the paper, mix carefully and paint another patch on the paper. Continue to mix in white paint in this way and paint patches until the original color has become very pale. Now start with a fresh pot of pure color and paint patches for additions of black paint. At the end of the activity, you should have a complete range of color from very pale to very dark. Promote further understanding by asking them questions to use this new-found knowledge. For example: How many different greens can they see in the garden? Is the sky the same bright blue as it was yesterday?

Familiarity

Very young children feel comfortable and are able to relax when they are familiar with the people looking after them. They respond to a regular routine. This will not be the same for any one family or indeed for any on child. However, it is a routine which will have been established and one which will allow children to know where they are. At this very young age, many children feel threatened by any disruption to this familiar pattern.

Obviously, however, as children get older, they need to be able to cope with changes to this familiarity. They need to learn to accept many unfamiliar places, people situations and objects as non-threatening, whilst recognizing that some others pose a threat. As children become more adept at using their senses, their family world will expand dramatically and they will gradually develop a more realistic view of what is and what is not safe.

Developing Awareness

Helping a child to be more aware of what is going on around him is very helpful in helping him to acquire general learning skills. Being ware is the cornerstone to all learning. It leads to a growing curiosity and a desire to find out more.
An initial concentration on the senses is an appropriate and easy way to introduce young children to the world and all it has to offer. Careful explanations will have their place later on, but it is much easier for a young child to learn by actively using parts of his body to explore what is happening. By concentration carefully on the senses, children can be encouraged to become increasingly aware of the delights, peculiarities and dangers that surround them.
This will lead to a greater understanding of what things mean and how of they should respond in different circumstances. The delights of the world are there to be enjoyed but when their senses are alerted to peculiarities, could suggest that they should be cautious or it could just be a new learning opportunity. When their senses tell them that something is completely out of the ordinary, this generally indicates danger and the need to react immediately to avert disaster.