Shell and stone washing and drying activity

 

We have just started our very first unit, our Seasides and Rockpools Unit, and after our fantastic day out to the beach investigating rockpools and collecting beautiful shells and stones, we are starting our week with a crackin’ activity based on the Montessori rock polishing activity.

We used:
Our small water table.
A top-and-tail baby bath tray.
A handy shallow tray.
A nail brush.
A dish towel.
Our collected treasures, fresh from the beach.

 

 

I filled one side with warm water, placed the spare tray on an empty box and put the folding dish towel in it, then placed our collected shells and stones in the top and tail tray (which is used just as a sorting tray now, and not for washing babies!) and then simply handed him the nail brush and let him have at!

 

Squirrel had one big squeak of excitement, then got to work, occasionally chattering to me but otherwise applying all kinds of whimsical playful focus to dumping his shells and stones into the water, swishing them around and using the nail brush to work at them.

He frequently invited me to play too, and after I held it up to my eye to look at a beautiful shiny periwinkle, he started bringing them to his face too to examine them closely, loosing merry little exclamations of awe, showing them to me, and scurrying around to carefully dry them and put them in the big tray.

Dry, dry, dry.

Oooh, shiny.

This fantastic activity kept him wrapped up for a good 30 minutes at least.

Look at our treasures, all glistening and marvelous!

“Mama, noooose! Ha!” Little nut. Bless!

And when all that was finished, just as I was packing up after he asked where his Giraffe was, he scuttled back and tipped them all back in for round 2! Cheekychops! After he completely the whole job a second time, they were all dried and put away ready for use in more activities in this theme for the week, keep an eye out for our upcoming activities!

All in all, a fantastic start to our Seaside and Rockpool Unit!