Millions of years ago there was a warm shallow sea teeming with sharks. As the eons passed the sea receded and became what is now the Chesapeake Bay. The sharks died and their teeth became fossils that embedded themselves in the cliffs lining the shores of the bay.Yesterday we spent the day enjoying the beach on the Chesapeake Bay. It was a perfect beach day with sunshine and soft breezes. The shallow warm water was teeming with laughing children. The sand contained the fossilized teeth of those long gone sharks. My nine-year-old granddaughter sat in one spot and quietly collected hundreds of small shark teeth. It was a peaceful Zen-like moment for her. The other children used strainers and fingers to sift the sand and search for teeth in a contest of who could find the biggest and the best tooth. One beach-goer had found a large tooth, about two inches long, and the kids were all hoping to find another big one. Most teeth were small, but the search for fossils made a day at the beach an exciting history lesson.
What places do you take children where they can have a wonderful day of play that includes great lessons in nature and history?
6 comments:
We have a special hiking trail that is a glade. Here in the Ozarks, the view can be breathtaking and this is one place out in the middle of nowhere with one such view. There isn't much in the way of history we study except the recent history but I could change that next time we go. I'll look up how the area was formed and developed.
We definitely have some earh science involved with the flora and fauna we see.
Zen-like expeiences are perfect no matter what age. I would have been right there with her sifting thru the samd for shark teeth.
My forest holds great wonders...huge trees, small sprouts, edible berries, ferns, birds, squirells, and bears and cougar and grouse too. I wish my grandkids could be here now.
I take my daughter to the farm where she rides. She gets to hang out with the horses, fresh air (well it is a horse farm.. not so fresh sometimes) and the farm has its own cemetery and built in 1815.. so it has some history, just not sure what it is! May have to do some research.
Hello!
I love your blog. You have a lovely family. Thanks for visiting mine, I'll be a regular visiting yours! I have ancestors who settled in the Chesapeake Bay area. So we plan to visit it one day.
Kathleen
What a wonderful way for kids to spend an afternoon at the beach. Searching for shark teeth sounds so much more interesting than just finding shells on the sand (which is what we did at the beach during my childhood). Glad to read your day was so perfect!
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