Encourage helping skills and cooperation with this interactive beach toy shop! This activity can be done at home with on...
Encourage helping skills and cooperation with this interactive beach toy shop! This activity can be done at home with one child or can be used in the classroom with a group of 2-10 kids. Children love pretending to work at shops and serve customers - lean into it and help them understand the process of serving customers, using appropriate language to greet their “customers” and even count money!
Books to explore: Sand Castle Contest by Robert Munsch is a great book to get the creative juices flowing for the customers on what they might need to build their sandcastle using the beach toy shop!
️Level Up: Older children can practice their writing and drawing by adding signs to their shop. Let them get creative with their toys!
What you'll need
- Beach toys (scoops, bucket, shovels etc.)
- Small table
- Containers for the beach toys to be sorted into
- Paper for beach toy description signs (optional)
- Cash register with pretend money (optional)
Step by step
Step 1
Set up the beach toy shop on a small table. Lay out the toys and sort them into their containers by type.
Step 2
Have your child make signs if they’re old enough or print off images to keep the toys separated in bins. This will help older children practice their literacy by matching the word to the image.
Step 3
Encourage children or other family members to stop by the beach toy shop and pick up a few items for their beach adventure! You can have one or two kiddos behind the counter work together to serve their “customers.”
Step 4
(Optional) If you decided to include a cash register, give the “customers” money to pay for their items!
More ideas
️ For older preschoolers: Set up a cash register and encourage the children to use proper language when interacting with the customers- greeting them, saying thank you for the business etc.
️ For younger toddlers: Things may get messy and they may not like “serving” customers or may just want to mix all the toys together and use the toys themselves - no problem! This will still encourage their coordination skills when exploring the toys
Playful questions
Which is your favorite toy to use?
What toy do you think will be the best to build a sandcastle with?
How many shovels does each customer need?
If the beach toy I want to buy costs $3 and I gave your $5, how much change should I get back?
What are some other toys we could add to our shop?
Learning outcomes
Social
Cooperating
Exchanging ideas and materials during play