Join the Beach Patrol

Protecting our sea and our beaches

by Hannah Taylor

Suitable for Whole School (Pri)

Aims

To consider how we can protect our beaches and wildlife while still having fun.

Preparation and materials

• Have available the following videos and the means to display them during the assembly:
  
  - ‘Utopia Village: back-of-dock underwater reef cams’, available at:  https://tinyurl.com/2s2wf7bj
  - (for older children) ‘Fun things to do at the beach’, available at: https://youtu.be/r4Mo2t8NPE4 (2.56 minutes long)
  - (for younger children) ‘Let’s go to the beach’, available at: https://youtu.be/JBhNqFHv5U8 (1.57 minutes long)
  - ‘Beach Clean’ (an episode of the CBeebies show Time for School), available at: https://youtu.be/Mat4HghJnoM (show from 4.58 minutes to 6.04 minutes)
  - ‘Save the sea animals’, available at: https://youtu.be/ogtvFbBfPEA (1.39 minutes long)

Assembly

1. Show the video ‘Utopia Village: back-of-dock underwater reef cams’, which shows live camera footage.
   
   Ask the children, ‘Is there anyone here who loves the sea and the beach?’
   
   Tell the children that you love the sea and the beach, so you could sit and watch this amazing live footage of the sea all day long.
   
   
2. Explain that there are many lovely ways to enjoy the beach.
   
   Tell the children that you are going to show them a video of fun things that we can do there.
   
   Show the YouTube video ‘Fun things to do at the beach’ (2.56 minutes long) or ‘Let’s go to the beach’ (1.57 minutes long), depending on the age range present.
   
   
3. Ask the children if they’re ready to join the beach patrol.
   
   Suggest to the children that they might be wondering what you mean. Explain that we often like to splash around in the sea and build sandcastles on the beach, but sometimes, we can forget to protect these places. Our seas and oceans hold almost all the water on earth, and they’re also responsible for most of the oxygen we breathe. How incredible is that?
   
   
4. Ask the children, ‘How can we protect our sea and our beaches?’
   
   Listen to a range of responses.
   
   Ask the children to raise their hand if they think that looking after these places is very important.
   
   Point out that if we don’t look after them, neither humans nor wildlife can use them safely.
   
   
5. Tell the children that you are going to show them a video that helps us understand how to protect our sea and beaches.
   
   Show the YouTube video ‘Beach Clean’ (show from 4.58 minutes to 6.04 minutes) or ‘Save the sea animals’ (1.39 minutes long), depending on the age range present.
   
   
6. Point out that unfortunately, over eight million tonnes of plastic enters the world’s oceans every year, affecting marine life such as dolphins, whales and fish. The plastic ends up there in various ways, including being blown off ships.
   
   
7. There are lots of ways in which we can help to stop this happening.
   
   - Recycle. We can make sure that all of our plastic is reused or recycled rather than being thrown away.
   - Use less plastic. We can choose alternatives to plastic, such as bamboo toothbrushes and metal water bottles.
   - Go on a beach clean. We can set ourselves challenges while we’re there: who can collect the most rubbish? Who can find the strangest item?
   - Buy second-hand toys and clothes. Charity shops can be like an indoor treasure hunt: we never know what we might find.
   - Reduce our waste. Do we have a toy or a game that we no longer play with? Maybe we could give it to someone else instead of throwing it away.
   - Talk to our friends and family about protecting our seas and beaches. We could watch sea-life documentaries and quiz the people we’re with. Who can get the best score?
   - Adopt a sea animal. We could adopt all sorts of different sea creatures - even a whale! - to help protect them.
   
   Mission complete, beach patrol!

Time for reflection

Let’s close our eyes and imagine we’re walking along a beach. Let’s think about where we are, and what we can see, feel, hear and smell. Let’s allow our imagination to run free. Now let’s think about how we can protect this beach and the sea.

Prayer
Dear Lord,
Thank you for our beautiful world.
Please guide us in protecting it and loving it
So that we may all thrive together.
Amen.

Song/music

‘Under the sea’ from the film The Little Mermaid, available at: https://youtu.be/GC_mV1IpjWA (3.26 minutes long)