The Race to the Beach

The Race to the Beach! written and illustrated by Anna Shuttlewood (2015)

One beautiful sunny day the zoo animals decide to catch a train to the seaside. They packed all their beach paraphernalia and spent the morning in the surf and sand. Then Seal announced a swimming race to see who could to out the farthest into the water. Everyone participated except Giraffe, who had no interest in swimming. The other animals thought maybe Giraffe couldn’t swim and they started without him. Polar Bear led the way until Crocodile passed him. Suddenly, Crocodile realized that he couldn’t reach the bottom and cried out for help. Giraffe heard his cries from the beach and ran out into the deep water to rescue Crocodile. He lifted him out of the water and carried him to the beach. Everyone agreed that Giraffe had won the race because not only had he rescued their friend Crocodile, he also went the farthest into the ocean.

With so many animals on the beach, it’s fun to read this story and try to find all the animals mentioned in the text. Can you find the Crocodile building the sand castle, or the Elephant with the beach ball, or the tiger digging for treasure? They’re all there and then some. What other animals can you find in the pictures?

Have fun predicting which small objects in your house can sink or float. 

Here are a few unique beach activities that can be done in a sandbox as well…

Make a Sand Volcano.

Make some Sand Slime.

And when you’re all done, clean up with a sprinkle of baby powder.