Ocean Theme
Pre-K & Preschool theme ideas for learning about ocean animals.
Sections for This Theme
Books
Fairy Tales: The Fisherman and His Wife and The Little Mermaid
Rhymes
Rub a Dub Dub
Catch a floater, catch an eel,
Catch a lazy whale,
Catch an oyster by the heel
And put him in a pail.
Songs
- Ocean Waves Nature CD
Activities
Crab Walk
[Large Motor]
Children crawl like a crab from one point to another. Next, they have to figure out a way to carry a bean bag while crawling like a crab.
Sea Shell Prints
[Fine Motor Skills]
Children use 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.
Colored Tape Fish
[Art]
Children draw their own fish on a piece of paper. They tear off pieces of colored masking tape and stick them on for the fish’s gills.
Wax Resist
[Art]
Children draw an ocean scene or one ocean animal with oil pastels. They paint 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 mix their own salt paint, and then paint a picture of an ocean animal.
Salt paint recipe:
2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Liquid starch
Few drops of food coloring
Mix ingredients together. The salt gives a frosted or sandy appearance to the paint.
Fish Bingo
[Literacy or Math]
Use plastic fish counters to cover the letter/number/shape on the bingo cards. We use these to play alphabet bingo, number bingo, shape bingo, or rhyming bingo.
Story Retelling
[Literacy]
Choose an ocean-themed book that you would consider good literature (good characters, plot, beginning, middle, end, etc.) Show the book to the children and tell them to think about what happened in the story, and the people (characters) and places they saw in the story. Think about what each character said. Give each child a piece of paper and ask them to draw something they remember from the story. Remind them that this should not be a picture of their cat or their friends, but only pictures of things from the book. After each child has illustrated the story, have them retell the story in their own words. Either record each child with a voice recorder or write their dictation on the page.
Fish Stamping Game
[Math, Literacy]
Write a letter or numeral on each fish, and make a copy for each child. Children will draw a number or letter card from a stack (or roll a die), find that letter/numeral on their mat, and stamp it out. You can use rubber stamps or bingo dot markers. As an alternative, you can have children draw an “X” over the fish if stamps or bingo dot markers are not available.
Fish Bingo
Fishing Game
[Math]
Our “ocean” is a blue shower liner on the floor. Paper fish have 0-10 dots on them, with a paperclip attached, and are tossed onto the “ocean”. Children catch a fish with magnetic fishing pole, count the dots on the fish, and write or stamp the numeral on a fish cutout. The magnetic fishing poles were made with a magnet wand tied to a rhythm stick with string.
Beach Grid Game
[Math]
To play a grid game, children roll a game die, identify the numeral and count out that amount of manipulatives. Each manipulative is placed over one picture in the grid. Children play until the whole grid is full. This grid game uses mini seashells which can be purchased in a bag at craft stores, or collect your own on the beach.
Grid Game 10 Spaces
Grid Game 20 Spaces
Seashells
Fish Flop
[Math]
Children use spray-painted beans (one side yellow, one side blue) as pretend fish. Ten fish are placed in each child’s cup. The children dump the cup onto the table and count 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 get to taste something that comes from the sea. We use a fish cookie cutter to cut two pieces of bread. We make 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 place three vanilla wafers in a ziplock bag and crush them to make sand. We pour the sand in the bottom of a clear cup, and scoop blue Jello on top. Last, we add gummy fish.
Wave Bottles
[Science]
Children use a funnel to pour a cup full of baby oil (or cooking oil) into a clear plastic bottle. They fill the bottle the rest of the way with water. We give the liquid a chance to settle, then add 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 add plastic “fish” (sequins), and make waves by turning the bottle sideways and rocking it gently.
Float & Sink
[Science]
children work in pairs to test the items (cap, penny, marble, feather, toy fish, Unifix cube, etc.) in the water. Each child gets their own item to test in the water, but each pair shares a tub of water. Before handing out each item, I ask them to make a prediction whether they think the item will float or sink. Then, we check our predictions to see which ones we guessed correctly.
Science Center
[Science]
Read the post at this link: Things from the Ocean Science Center
Boats (Exploring Density)
[Sensory Table]
Children start with a ball of clay, which sinks in the water. They form the clay into a boat that will float. After they have made a boat that floats, they add small bear counters to see how many can sit in the boat without it sinking. Note: Only use oil-based, non-hardening modeling clay for this activity. Do not use play dough or earthenware clays.
Beach Prop Box
[Dramatic Play Center]
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”
Printables
Directions for printables are given in the Activities section above.
Fish Bingo
Grid Game 10 Spaces
Grid Game 20 Spaces
Pattern Block Fish
Pattern Block Fish
Pattern Block Fish
Pattern Block Fish
Ocean Cards*
*use for pocket charts, flannel boards, graphing labels, matching, games, beginning sounds, etc.
Links
