Activity 1: Sand on Stage

Students, using magnifiers and working in small groups, compare the color, size and shape of several sand samples to determine their origins.

Activity 2: Dishpan Beach

Students create a dishpan beach, and a flannel board story and then conduct several experiments to differentiate between waves and changing tide levels on a sandy beach.

Activity 3: The Sights That Sand Has Seen

Students listen to a story about the evolutionary journey of a sand grain from high on a mountain to the top of a sand castle on a west coast beach. They then work in small groups to write and illustrate a series of “post cards” that re-tell the story of the sand grain’s journey.

Activity 4: Eat My Rust

Students observe the chemical and biological processes of corrosion and degradation on several materials. They then use these observations to learn about how long marine debris persists in the environment and the harm to marine life that the debris can cause.

Activity 5: Build a Sandy Beach

Students make bulletin boards and models of different views of the same sandy beach, including beach wrack magnified 20X and cut-away views of the under-the-sand habitat. Three-dimensional organisms constructed to scale are added and tides and waves simulated.

Activity 6: ‘Ears to You

Students teach each other “jigsaw-style” about seals and sea lions and their adaptations for living in the ocean, then play a cooperative “game show” to check for understanding.

Activity 7: Chain of Life

Students wear pictures of sandy beach organisms and elements of the habitat and then hold hands, building a chain which demonstrates interdependence.

Activity 8: Oil on the Beach

Students learn where oil comes from, the many ways people use oil, and how and why we should conserve it. They help make a classroom sandy beach and observe how it is affected by simulated tidal changes as oil spilled offshore washes onto the beach. Students then work in small groups using a variety of methods to attempt to clean up an oil spill.

Activity 9: The Plastic Ocean

Students collect data on their own use of plastics, then brainstorm and implement ideas for reducing their consumption.

Activity 10: Sandy Beach Scavenger Hunt

Students investigate the contents of a demonstration wastebasket to recognize the types of garbage that wash up at the beach.

Activity 11: Celebrating The Sea

Students write cinquains, haikus or limericks expressing their emotions and knowledge about the sandy beach.

Activity 12: Artistic Impressions

Students use sand, driftwood, rocks and feathers to create their own sand candles, sand paintings and other crafts.

Activity 13: Shell Sorting

Students work in groups to first sort shells into groups based on their own classification system. They then sort into groups of actual related shells after some guided discovery, and finally take a closer look at one particular shell to increase observation skills.

Activity 14: Water Cycle Boogie

Students learn about the water cycle through music, movement and creative dramatics. Through hands-on activities, students observe and demonstrate water evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.

Activity 15: Beach Bucket Scavenger Hunt

Students in small groups explore a simulated sandy beach in a plastic tub that is littered with beach drift and debris, and discover the differences between once living (biotic) and never living (abiotic) objects through cooperative small group work.

Production Credits

“” Icon made by Pixel perfect from www.flaticon.com