~ Ideas for learning about the ocean ~
Books
Fairy Tales: The Fisherman and His Wife and The Little Mermaid
Activities
Crab Walk
[Large Motor]
Children crawled like a crab from one point to another. Next, they had to figure out a way to carry a bean bag while crawling like a crab.
Colored Tape Fish
[Art]
Children traced and cut a fish out of paper. They tore off pieces of colored masking tape and stuck them on for the fish's gills. Then, they glued
on a wiggle eye.
Wax Resist
[Art]
Children drew an ocean scene or one ocean animal with oil pastels. They painted over the whole paper with blue watercolor paint to create the water. The wax in the oil pastels resists the water, so the picture shows through the paint.
Sea Salt Art
[Art]
The children mixed their own salt paint, and then painted a picture of an ocean animal.
Salt paint recipe:
2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Liquid starch
few drops of tempera paint or food coloring
Mix ingredients together. The salt gives a frosted appearance to the paint.
Rhyming Bingo
[Literacy]
We used plastic fish counters to cover the rhyming pictures on rhyming bingo game cards.
The Rainbow Fish Story Retelling
[Literacy]
After reading the book, The Rainbow Fish, children drew a picture to illustrate some aspect of the story. They dictated a "retelling"
of the story for one of the teachers to write on the page.
Sea Shell Prints
[Fine Motor Skills]
Children used seashells in the play dough area to press into the play dough to make prints. You can do the same activity using self-hardening clay
and the children can keep them.
Fishing Game
[Math]
Our "ocean" was a blue shower liner on the floor. Paper fish had 0-10 dots on them, with a paperclip attached, and were tossed onto the "ocean".
Children caught a fish with magnetic fishing pole, counted the dots, and wrote or stamped the numeral on a fish cutout. The magnetic fishing poles
were made with a magnet wand tied to a rhythm stick with string.
Sorting
[Math]
Children sorted a pack of ocean animal gummy fruit by color, then counted how many they had of each color.
Ocean Math Story Mat
[Math]
I made these mats with construction paper and drew the umbrella with markers. I read out some directions to the children and they placed colored counters on the mat. For example, "Place 2 orange crabs on the sand. Place 5 green fish in the water." This is great for assessing listening skills and following directions (using anecdotal notes or a checklist).
Fish Flop
[Math]
Children used spray-painted beans (one side yellow, one side blue) as pretend fish. Ten fish were placed in each child's cup. The children
dumped the cup onto the table and counted to see how many fish flopped on the blue side and how many flopped on the yellow side.
Tuna Fish Sandwich
[Cooking]
With this snack, we got to taste something that comes from the sea. We used a fish cookie cutter to cut two pieces of bread. We made tuna salad by
adding mayonnaise and sweet pickles to a drained can of tuna. Then, spread the tuna on the sandwich.
Ocean Snack
[Cooking]
We put three vanilla wafers in a ziplock bag and crushed them to make sand. We poured the sand in the bottom of a clear cup, and scooped blue Jello
on top. Last, we added gummy fish.
Shark Hunt
[Science]
Sharks have excellent sense of hearing. Two or three timers were set and hidden in the room. Children use their sense of hearing, like a shark would,
to find the timer before it went off.
-- From Totline Exploring Water
Wave Bottles
[Science]
Children used a funnel to fill a plastic bottle half full with water. They filled the bottle the rest of the way with baby oil. We gave the liquid a
chance to settle, then added a few drops of blue food coloring. It's fun to watch the blue as it drops through the oil and "explodes" into the water.
Last, we added plastic "fish" (sequins), and made waves by turning the bottle sideways and rocking it gently.
Float & Sink
[Science]
children worked in pairs to test the items (cap, penny, marble, feather, toy fish, Unifix cube, etc.) in the water. Each child got their own item to
test in the water, but each pair shared a tub of water. Before handing out each item, I asked them to make a prediction whether they thought the item
would float or sink. Then, we checked our predictions to see which ones we guessed correctly.
Science Center
[Science]
Sea shell collection
Preserved Seahorse, Starfish, Sand Dollars, Coral, and Sea Sponge
Shark teeth
A Slinky for making waves
Live hermit crab (borrow)
Wave bottle
Sand & water bottle
Baking Powder Submarine
Miniature replicas of ocean animals with fact cards (Lakeshore)
Beach Prop Box
[Dramatic Play]
Suntan lotion bottles, Sunglasses, Flip flops, Radio, Swim fins, Face mask, Beach hats, Beach ball, Towels, Ice chest, Juice cans, Cassette tapes of beach songs, Buckets, Pails, Sand molds, Beach chairs, Mini umbrella
Educational Videos
[Technology]
From United Streaming Videos:
"Seahouse: A Drop to Drink"
"Seahouse: Amazing Rays"
"Seahouse: Shark!"
"Seahouse: Birds of the Sea"
"Seahouse: The Dolphin"
"Seahouse: Breathing Underwater"
"Seahouse: Colors and Patterns"
"Seahouse: Crabs, Lobsters, and Shrimp"
"Seahouse: Partners"
"Seahouse: The Manatee"
"Seahouse: Something Fishy"
Resources
- Ocean Theme Cards
- Ocean Theme Links
- Ocean Kids Page
- Baby Beluga: by Raffi
- Down by the Bay: traditional song
- Carnival of the Animals: The Aquarium by Camille Saint-Saens (classical)
- Ocean Waves Nature CD
Music:
