What's in the tank?

Yesterday evening, my husband and I went for a walk down the beach with the kids... Little did I know we would end up with a new aquarium in the classroom filled with anemones, shrimps, crabs, sea snails and limpets from the local shore. My husband also gathered some seaweeds, rocks and sand to fill the tank. The result is amazing and today, all my little ones at preschool were glued to the glass. especially when one little hungry crab was feeding on a dead limpet!!

An anenome

A shrimp

I know you can't really see very well, but here is one of our crabs.

The tank fits in so nicely with our last theme of the year: the seashore. And I was delighted to be able to point at each little creature we have met during our reading of  Sharing a shell by Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks. In the book, the tiny hermit crab has found a new shell. At first, he doesn't really want to share it -- not with a blobby purple anenome and a tickly bristleworm. But he soon finds out that  life in the rock pool can be tough. Soon he finds himself having quite a lot of fun with his new housemates in this rollicking story of sea, shells and friendship. This is a lovely book for children to learn about animals living in the rock pools of our local shores. This is also a fantastic story about sharing with friends and how to say sorry.

And a quick update on our tadpoles: we have a baby frog!!!