Celebrate the end of the year by throwing an end of year beach party to celebrate the children’s preschool graduation.
Food Ideas
Make up a variety of finger sandwiches and use some of the ideas below to create an outdoor picnic. Allow the children to make their plates and sit on beach blankets to enjoy their food.
Beach Food…
Take saltine crackers and cover them with cream cheese (that has been tinted with blue food coloring). This is the water. Then the students can add gold fish to make an ocean scene.
Graduation Caps…
Graduation Caps… Turn a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup upside down and attached a chocolate covered graham with frosting. Then attach a small piece of string licorice to the graham for a tassel.
Graduation Cake…
Take a photo of the entire class. Have a graduation cake made up using the classroom photo.
Clear Blue Yonder…
Our dollar store has gummy octopuses and fish. I make a big bowl (clear bowl) of blue Jell-O and then let the kids add an octopus, fish or worm (eel) to their water–Jell-O. They love this.
Magic Mermaid Juice…
Make blue ice cubes (very blue food coloring) and mix up lemon aide with some added extra yellow food coloring. When the blue ice is put in the yellow drink it turns green.
Cupcakes…
You can always cut fruit roll ups into ocean animals and place them on cupcakes or cookies. Very decorative.
Sand Pudding…
Purchase a brand new sand bucket and scoop to use for the sand pudding and/or pasta type salads. The “Sand” pudding is vanilla pudding with graham cracker crumbs sprinkled on the top and a gummy worm protruding from the pudding cup.
Games
Digging for Treasure…
Fill a cooler that resembles a “treasure chest” with sand and bury gold plastic coins, starfish, turtles, and seashells, etc. in the sand. After going on a treasure “hunt” and finding a large “X” chalked on the parking lot, the children find the chest and took turns digging for treasure. They love it!!!!
Outdoor Game Ideas…
Play a variety of beach ball games–beach balls on a blanket popping them into the air, hot potato with beach balls; throw the beach ball into a large bucket.
Fishing For Fun…
Purchase each of the children large bubble wands and wrap them in a paper bag. At the top of each bag staple a large loop of curling ribbon. Have each of the children “fish” with a dowel rod, yarn “line” and bent paper clip hook until they “catch” the loop on the bag. Then they open the bag, find the bubble wand inside, and can use it at one of the large buckets in a bubble station nearby.
Autograph Signing…
Purchase a beach ball at the dollar store for each child in your class. Have the children sign each other’s beach balls as great mementos of the year.
Picture Perfect…
For a present, you could make picture frames using pre-made mats – just decorate with sea-themed things; you could use beach stickers and glitter glue. At the beach party, take lots of group pictures. The one that turns out best can be copied, mounted in the decorated frames and sent to the child in the mail a couple of days after the party.
Crab Races… Have children practice walking like crabs. Once they are able to move in that position, they are ready to race. The children may have individual races or team races. Children may race forward or backwards.
Octopus... Mark a goal line at each end of playing field. Choose a child to be the octopus, the rest of the children are fish. The object is for the octopus to catch the fish by tagging them with a sponge ball. If a child gets hit they must freeze and become an octopus tentacle. The tentacle may help the octopus by using their hands outstretched to tag fish. Only the octopus may move however. To begin playing, all fish line up at one goal line. The octopus calls out,”Fish, fish, swim in my ocean.” At this command the fish must try to cross the ocean without getting caught. The last one to be tagged is the next octopus.
