Beach Party

Have a beach party!  Invite the children to wear their swim suits, build
sand castles in your sand table,  have a picnic lunch on your beach towels.

More Items To Place In Dramatic Play Area

Have beach towels, buckets, shovels, beach umbrella, beach
 chairs, empty sunscreen bottles, picnic basket or cooler. 

Dress Up Bathing Suits

Make dress-up bathing suits by using a large t-shirt, sew front of bathing suit to
 front of t-shirt, back of suit to back.  Children can just put on t-shirt to play dress-up.

Going to the Beach

A trip to the beach means planning ahead and packing necessary items to
 make it a fun day in the sun. Engage youngsters in some critical
 decision- making and organizational skills by having them pack a baby
 for a beach adventure.  To prepare, gather a large beach bag and an
 assortment of items that may be used at the beach- such as sunglasses,
 sunscreen, a beach towel, a swimsuit, a pail, and a shovel. Add some
 other unrelated objects to the collection, also---such as blocks, a flashlight,
 and a coat. Invite each student in turn to select an appropriate item from
 the collection to take to the beach. Ask him to explain why he made his
 choice; then have him put the item in the bag.  Make a play area with
 sand and sea shells. Add a blanket umbrella, shovel and pail and other
 misc. beach items. Take each child's picture and make a bulletin board. 

Imagination Pantomime

Encourage children to use their creativity and move the way you suggest.
 Pretend you are swimming in the ocean waves. Pretend you are walking
 barefoot over the hot sand. Pretend you are surfing. Pretend you a crab
 and do the crab walk (to do the crab walk you need to sit on the floor
 and rise up and walk backwards on your hands and feet).

Beach Prop Box

Use a small durable plastic cooler, and put inside, two beach towels, two or more
 children's swim suits, an empty sun-screen bottle, sun glasses, a bright colored hat,
 two or more empty plastic soda bottles (glue lids on for younger age children), & sand toys.
 The children in my class played with this both indoors and outdoors in the sand box

Role Play Life Guards

Encourage your child to role play life guards.  Offer a variety of props,
 including bathing suits, beach towels, empty sunscreen containers,
 life preservers, sun visors, sun glasses, and flip flops.

Hut on the Beach

Materials Needed:
Refrigerator Box
Paper Bags (Grocery)
Card Board
Small Blow up Wading Pool
Beach Ball
Towels
Sand

Directions:
Invite the children to paint the refrigerator box brown. With adult help paint
 the sides to look like a hut. Cut the paper bags into strips and past to the
 top of the box to look like a grass roof. Paint grass on the cardboard, cut
 out and set in front of the hut. Blow up the pool, add the bucket, towels
 and any other beach toys you may have. If you have the room put sand
 in the wading pool, add spray bottles and the kids will love it. This can be
 placed inside or outside. The pool can also be used as the reading center.