Today the Year 1/2 classes from East Hoathly and Park Mead joined together for a sunny adventure on Eastbourne beach.
Once at the beach the children were really keen to start exploring and even more excited to go and paddle – “will it be warm?”
Some of the children looked amongst the stones. Then using an ID sheet they were able to work out what they had found. They found Mermaid’s Purses, whelk eggs, dry seaweed and some stones with holes that went all the way through.
Working in groups there was a sand castle construction. Some castles were mounds of sand surrounded by a watery moat. The children had to work hard to fill their moat with buckets of sea water before it soaked away into the sand. Other castles were made with stone, using wet sand as a kind of cement to hold them together. One group dug a rather large hole and placed stones around the edge. When asked what they were doing they said “we are making a rock pool”. Others chose to dig channels down to the sea so the water could flow down the beach. They kept having to make it longer as the tide was going out.
As the tide went out it exposed the bottom of the groins, this was a great place for us to see some marine life. The children found limpets, barnacles, whelks and anemones. Some of the anemones were open as the water was still just covering them. This allowed the children to see their tentacles whereas others that were out of the water were closed.
The children enjoyed paddling in the sea and running back up the beach trying not to get wet as the waves broke. Others tried jumping the waves, sometimes not getting it quite right and getting splashed.
It was great to see the two classes play and work together, it was a really amazing day Chestnuts.
Chestnuts have had a wonderful, fun filled last few weeks. The beach trip was fabulous; super paddling fun. They have all really enjoyed learning about Titanic too!
