[Y1] Year 0/1 Beach Trip

It was beach trip day for the Year 0/1 children. They had been waiting for the weather to warm up, and finally got to walk ten minutes from school down to the beach to play in the sand and look at the little creatures we share this place with in the rock pools. Taking a crowd of wild five-year-olds out of school and down to the water meant far more parent helpers than teachers, all split into small groups.

My group was Jin and her two close friends. Look away for a second and they scatter in every direction, so on the walk between school and the sea we held hands tightly. On the way we said hello to ducklings still in their fluff and stopped to admire the flowers in pretty front gardens. The curiosity of five-year-olds is always sweet, and always a little unpredictable.

At the beach we had some quick brain food and split into two groups. One group started at the rock pools while the other built sandcastles on the beach. The children played with all their might. They piled up sand, patted it down, and carried over sparkly black sand from further along to sprinkle on top. They hunted for pretty shells, dug until they hit water, and got creative in their own ways, not caring one bit about the state of their clothes and shoes. The laundry is Mum's problem, after all. Of course it is.

Once the sandy hands were washed, it was time to swap. We filled hungry tummies with morning tea and headed to the rock pools. Barnacles clung to the rocks. Tiny hermit crabs hid under the rocks and in the water, and blue-grey crabs so small that several could sit on a child's palm got such a fright from the noisy five-year-olds that they either ran off or played dead. Then a few of the kids teamed up to lift a big rock, and oh my God. Hundreds of crabs had been hiding underneath, and as they came scrambling out, the whole rock pool filled with happy screams.

Jin, who is a bit of a scaredy-cat, decided the hermit crabs were "yucky" and the crabs were scary, and ran off to gaze wistfully back at the sandcastle beach. Still, she found a stick, wrote in the wet sand by the shallow water, and chatted away with her friend. Then, as we were packing up, she started grumbling that she didn't want to say goodbye to me when we got back to school. (Even after I reminded her that school finished in three hours and then it was the weekend!)

Everyone was tired on the walk back. But when she came home from school that afternoon, her face was still lit up. And the sweet little letters the two children gave me melted the tiredness right away.