Little Hands Learning | Seaside box review

“A monthly subscription box, inspired by the magic of books.”

The combination of honeymoon posts and no motivation to write two posts a week has meant this post is so delayed. Not only have we received two subscription boxes from Little Hands Learning since then, but I also purchased a one-off box during the summer sale. Expect lots of content coming up soon!

Anyway, back to this month’s box. Who remembers The Kooks asking “do you want to go to the seaside”? That’s exactly where we went with June’s Little Hands Learning box. The activities were inspired by a fabulous book – a combination of fiction and non-fiction – ‘Look What I Found at the Seaside’, by Moira Butterfield and illustrated by Jesus Verona. A National Trust book, this captured the essence of a trip to the beach – but was also packed full of information, as well as fascinating facts.

The four activities were:

• STEM floating and sinking experiment
• Build an ocean sensory world
• Craft a shell clay bowl
• Paint pebbles

Sink or Float?

If you saw my Instagram story unboxing, then you’ll know that Alfie was most excited about this activity. As soon as he pulled out the welcome card, he said “Look what I have to do – put the egg in the water”. Now, I don’t eat eggs so don’t buy them often – usually for baking, niçoise salad or carbonara sauce – so I bought them especially for this activity.

I found three pint glasses and filled them with water, while Alfie emptied the sachet of salt in one glass, and the sachet of sugar in another. I even made labels, so we knew which was which. He then carefully put the eggs in each glass and watched to see if they would float or sink.

Of course, I wasn’t expecting him to know the science behind it all, or what density is, but it was a fun experiment to do together. And after he wanted to know what would happen to an egg in some squash, or a milkshake… at least it kept the conversation going!

Under the sea

We often love the small world activities, which invite imagination and role play. We were given some powder, similar to the magic potion in the Magic Box, or dream dust in the Dream Box. Alfie enjoyed experimenting with the powder and varying amounts of water – and as well as using the octopus he received in the box, he found some other sea creature small toys to play with. The shells also came in handy, and there was enough dust to play multiple times.

Collecting stones and shells

Painting stones using the watercolour pencils was so much fun – and after a recent trip to the beach, we collected more pebbles to complete this activity at home again. I’ve suggested making sea creature pebbles to go alongside the theme of the June box – although, we could even just paint random designs and go on a rock hunt… or leave them lying around in our local community. Once Alfie had used the watercolour pencils, we wanted to get out the paint palette from the Rainbow Box, and we ended up doing lots of painting together.

The shell bowl I ended up making, as he didn’t like the texture of the wet clay. I started off by rolling the clay into a bowl, before sticking my thumb in the middle and making the sides wider and wider. On reflection, it was quite thick and small, but it meant there were no holes and the shells stuck (except one that fell off once the clay had dried).

We’ve got a trip to the beach at the end of the month, so another opportunity to collect more stones and shells!

If you're interested in purchasing a one-off box or even subscribing, visit the website. And if you're looking for a discount on a future box or anything in the shop, use code: LUCYLOCKET – and in the notes, mention that I sent you.

For sneak peeks of future boxes, as well as other crafty and educational ideas, follow Little Hands Learning on Instagram.

Love, Lucy xx