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Seashell Games

When we think about seashells, we usually picture a beach littered with treasures to find and examine, but shells can be found in lakes, streams and on land. Shells, made of calcium, serve as protection for mollusks. The exoskeletons, a fancy word for the shells, provide protection and shape of a mollusk's soft body. The design of a mollusk's shell helps it burrow in the sand, stay at the bottom of the body or water or catch food. Try to identify the types of shells you find and use them in these seashell games.

Seashell Grid
- This grid game with seashells is appropriate for preschoolers and kindergarteners. To play, you need a bag of small seashells, a plain sheet of 8 ½ x 11 inch paper, a pen or marker, a ruler and a die with numbers. Measure and draw a grid of 1-inch squares on the paper for each player. Laminate the grids if you plan to play the game often. A turn consists of a roll of the die, counting out the number of shells equal to the number shown on the die and filling up your grid, putting one shell in each square of the grid. Take turns until one player fills up her grid. For older players, enlarge the grids and use math fact flash cards instead of the die. Add shells to your grid equal to the answer to the problem on the flash card.
Memory
- You need about 16 seashells and two packages of sea life-themed stickers. Add more seashells and stickers to increase the difficulty of this game. Place a sticker inside each shell, making sure there are matched pairs. Turn the shells with the sticker side down and mix them up. Arrange into at least four rows or four shells each. Players take turns turning over two shells, looking for a matching pair. If he doesn't find a pair, turn over the shells, sticker side down, and the next player begins. Award a point for finding a matching pair and that player gets another turn. Leave matching pairs face up on the table.
Treasure Hunt
- Here's a fun way to use the shells you collected at the beach. Besides shells, you'll need strips of paper, adhesive tape and a "treasure." Write clues leading to the discovery of the "treasure" on the strips of paper and tape them inside the shells. Hide the shells where they're not too difficult to find. A player wins by using clues to find the "treasure."
Seashell Relay
- Place an equal number of seashells in two buckets. Place the buckets of shells an appropriate adn equal distance away, according to the age of the players. Divide the players into teams. Place an empty bucket at the head of each team. The first player on each team runs to his team's bucket of shells, grabs one, runs back and puts in into the bucket at the head of his team's line. The first team to transfer all the shells wins.

Nature