What to do with this activity?
Rock pools are a great place for kids to explore and discover marine life close-up.
At high tide the sea covers the shore completely, but when the tide goes out on a rocky shore it exposes pools of salty water that are a favourite habitat for lots of small sea creatures and plant life. Have fun exploring them as a family. Learn to identify the common small fish and shell fish, starfish, crabs, insects and different types of seaweed. If you have a small net, carefully scoop small animals into a bucket for a closer look, then return them to the rock pool. This link from Coast Monkey tells you what you might find in a rock pool on the Irish coast. And get a few tips for rock pooling with younger kids from Rainy Day Mum. At the end of the day, count how many different types of plant and animal you found.
Stay safe. Don't get caught by the tide coming in, and wear suitable footwear because rocks can be sharp and slippy.
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Why am I doing this?
Children learn numbers and maths in a natural way through play and everyday activities. It’s different to school and should always be fun and practical – that way your child will enjoy working with numbers.
Your child also develops a sense of patterns and what time means in everyday life. This is important for helping your child to manage everyday activities – going places, how long they have to wait and understanding when things will happen in the future.
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How can I do more?
Talking about numbers helps your child’s fluency in counting, estimating and understanding numbers and money in everyday life. It takes time for children to understand addition and subtraction so use objects when helping them understand this or when doing their homework.
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