Preschool Ocean Animals Theme

Dive into learning with this fun Under the Sea theme! Below you can find tons of fun and engaging ocean and under the sea preschool activities.
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Planning your Ocean Animals Under the Sea Preschool Lesson Plan

Club Members can download our Under the Sea activities and Theme Planning Guide for free!
Planning Guide for free! ​Not a member? Learn More Here

Download our Free Ocean Animals/Under the Sea Preschool Sample Lesson Plan
There are all kinds of craft and process art ideas that would be fun to explore during the Under the Sea Theme! 
Be sure to add extra blue and green crayons, markers, colored pencils, and paper to your art center this week. 
Here are some ideas for Art & Creativity projects and processes to try this week:

Under the Sea Paper Plate Craft

Use a paper plate and construction paper, paper cutouts, or stickers to create and under the sea work of art. 
See the Under the Sea Craft Tutorial for details. 
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Try this!

Painting a Striped Fish with Fork Painting 

This week invite your preschoolers to paint a striped fish using forks! Provide a fish shape cutout, we recommend using one cut from card stock. 
Then set out shallow dishes of paint (paper plates or disposable pie tins work well), along with forks. Invite children to dip the forks in the paint, then drag across their fish to make a unique fish with different colors and patterns. 
Biocolors would be great for this invitation as the colors don't mix quite as easy. 
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Try this!

Crayon Resist Under The Sea

Provide white cardstock and white crayons. Invite children to write their name (or you can do this for them) on the white paper. Next, provide a set of watercolors and a paintbrush, invite children to brush over the whole paper with blue (allow other colors if they wish) to reveal their name.
​**You can also do this activity using blue liquid watercolors and pipettes. Simply invite children to drop the liquid watercolors over the paper to reveal the name. 

Drop Painting

Use Drop Painting to create fun fish art and explore sand
  • Tape a cutout of a fish from card stock onto a large piece of poster board. 
  • Follow the instructions from the Drop Painting tutorial to create the artwork. 
  • When finished, remove the fish cutout. The drop painting adds a bit of texture and will tie in well with the bits of sand that stick to the paper. Invite students to display their artwork in class. 
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Try this!

Ocean in a Bottle

Create an Ocean in a Bottle
  • Materials: 
  • Process:
  • Set the materials out for children and explain the process. Invite students to use the funnels to add some sand to their bottles (this is great for developing hand-eye coordination and learning to use tools).
  • Next they can add a few sea shells and other accessories, then they can pour water in until the bottle is about 3/4 full.
  • Once their creation is complete, glue the lid on. You will need to determine what type of glue is best based on the bottle you choose.
Encourage children to share their bottles with other students or family members. As they show them off, they can explain more about their bottle and why they chose the materials inside. 

Under the Sea Collage

  • Materials:
  • Magazines
  • blue/green/white construction paper or butcher paper
  •  glue & scissors
  • other fun collage materials: buttons in assorted colors and sizes, ocean themed stickers, ocean stencils or stamps, roll of white paper, glitter glue.

​This is a great opportunity to create a large piece of collaborative art for the classroom. Lay out a large piece of white paper on a table or the floor. tape down the sides to prevent them from curling up. Invite students to work on the paper together or choose part of the paper to work on independently. Be sure to inform them that this will be a collaborative piece to be hung in the classroom.
  • Students may wish to add their name in a spot where they spent a lot of time working. You can also consider adding photos of the children to different spots on the paper to show that it was a collaborative project. Once the artwork is complete hang in the classroom. Students eager to show their parents what they did should be encouraged to invite their parent in the classroom to view the artwork. If a parent is unable to come in consider offering to take a photograph to send to the parent to view. 
  • Follow-up this activity by adding similar materials to the art center for students to create their own collages. ​

Jellyfish Craft

This Jellyfish Craft is a fun addition to your Under the Sea theme and adds some great thematic decor to your learning space! Check out our blog for the details on this Jellyfish Craft. 
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Try This!

Wavy Water Collage

  • Materials: blue construction paper, glue or glue sticks, scissors, large white paper (consider card stock for this one). **This would be a great time to use those fancy edging scissors
  • Process: Provide each child with a set of materials. Invite students to cut waves out of the blue paper (this is excellent cutting practice and great for fine motor development). Encourage students to cut out waves in any way they like, there is no right or wrong way! Next, students will glue the waves on their paper. This is a good time to talk about AB patterning. Students can place a blue wave and leave a white space repeated down the paper. Or they may choose to overlap the wave strips, again there is no right or wrong way. 

Salt Watercolor Art

This is a great process art project to start after reading a book about the ocean, be sure to pick up one that talks about saltwater. 
  • Materials: Course sea salt, watercolor paint, watercolor paper, water
  • Process: Invite children to paint a design of their choosing with the watercolors, encourage them to use extra water so the paper is wet. Once their painting is complete, invite them to sprinkle or shake out salt onto the painting. 

More Art & Creativity Ideas 

Ocean Play Dough Invitation from Mom Inspired Life
Shark Hat from Glue sticks & Gumdrops
Stamped Fish From Teaching 2 and 3 year Olds
Contact Paper Jelly Fish from Juggling with Kids

Suggested Items to add to your Housekeeping Space for this theme:

Be sure to browse your local thrift store for some interesting and unique finds for this theme. You may be able to find seashells, sea animal figures and stuffed creatures, blue and green silk scarves, scuba gear, and interesting nautical decor. Consider adding some Seafood Cookbooks along with pretend food from the ocean for children to use in their pretend cooking. You might also consider hanging a piece of artwork that features an ocean scene.

Under the Sea Dramatic Play

Add an Ocean Backdrop (an ocean themed shower curtain or even blue cloth would work too!) Ocean Animal Cut-outs (make your own or hit up the dollar store), pretend rocks, tunnels to hide in and sea creature costumes (silk scarves can also be used to create many different costumes). 
Children can pretend to be all kinds of ocean creatures. Be sure to have plenty of resource books or technology available for children to research ocean animals when questions about them arise. 

At the Beach

Setting up a Beach dramatic play invitation is so much fun!

Create a Beach Prop Box for children to be able to easily set up beach dramatic play in no time. . Materials to consider: beach chairs, blankets, sand play items, and shells to collect (this would be fun outside near a sandbox)

*Aquarium

Set up an Aquarium for children to practice many different skills while exploring Under the Sea Creatures

Our Aquarium Dramatic Play Pack includes props and signs to help you easily create an Aquarium Experience in your Early Learning Environment. 

Add several exhibits featuring Sea Animals such as sharks, penguins, jellyfish, whales, sea lions, and crabs. You can add a variety of stuffed animals for these exhibits along with posters of the animals.
Add books and posters to each exhibit for viewers to learn more about each animal.

Add an admission area, gift shop, and snack shop for extra role playing and math fun
Include pamphlets, and an educational movie viewing area​
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Fishing Boat

Creating a fishing boat from a large cardboard box. Add life vests, pretend fishing poles, and other items you might find on a boat. 

Under the Sea Small World Play​

Add a variety of sea creatures to your space this week. Provide children with different types of materials to create an underwater scene such as: blue felt/fabric, sandpaper, seaweed, shells and rocks.

Build an Aquarium

Set up an invitation to create an aquarium during group play. Each group will need wooden unit blocks (or cardboard blocks), blue silk scarves, accessories such as sea shells or sea shell cutouts, and sea creatures. You could challenge each group to create an ocean habitat for a different type of sea creature. 

Build Sea Animals

Set out blocks of your choice along with pictures of different sea animals.
Invite children to use the blocks to build the animals.

Build a Submarine

Set out a large appliance box, along with  a variety of recycled materials, tape, glue, paper, etc.
Invite students to build and decorate their own submarine.

*Uppercase and Lowercase Letter Matching

Practice matching uppercase and lowercase letters with this Under the Sea inspired file folder game. 
This activity can be set up as a file folder game, table activity, or even in the sensory bin! Hide the letter cards in a sensory bin full of pom poms for children to discover. As they find a letter they identify it and mark the matching letter on the mat. 
This alphabet activity is included in the PKPF Under the Sea Preschool Activity Pack. 
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Under the Sea Preschool Activity Pack

Under the Sea Writing

Add word wall vocabulary cards, like the ones pictured our Under the Sea pack to your writing center this week.  Children can use the cards as inspiration to practice writing skills or create an Under the Sea story. The 16- different cards could be used to create a visual story that children can read aloud to peers or family. 
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Under the Sea Preschool Activity Pack

Writing in the Sand

Set up a sand writing tray for letter and name practice. 
If you have the PKPF Under the Sea pack you can use the pearl letter cards for this invitation. Children can flip over a letter, then draw it in the sand with their finger. 

Or encourage children to draw letters, numbers, or different lines in the sand when in the sand box. 

Tracing Summer Fun

Practice tracing letters, numbers, shapes, and lines by adding activities from the Summer Tracing Set to your writing center this week.  
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Summer Tracing Preschool Activities

Environmental Print

Add ocean themed images around the learning environment, label the images with the creatures featured on the art or the letter that the animal begins with. 

Explore Ocean Words

Explore ocean words with activities from the PKPF Summer Word Wall & Vocabulary set
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Summer Word Wall and Vocabulary Preschool Activities

Seashell Memory: Name Recognition

Play a seashell memory game using the names of children in the classroom or family. 
This can also be done using numbers or for older children, sight words. 
​​​​
  • Materials: Seashells large enough to write names in (can usually be found at the dollar store or ask parents to donate some) you will need two shells per name/word, sharpie
  • Preparation: On each shell, write one name of a child in the classroom, be sure that each child has their name written on two different shells, be sure to write clearly so children can read the name. 
  • Play:  Set up an invitation for 2-3 children to play at a time. Play is the same as the classic memory game. Children flip over two shells, they read the name and see if they match. 
  • Variation: For advanced preschoolers, Instead of writing the child's first name on both shells, try writing their first name on one shell and their last name on another. For younger preschoolers consider writing a symbol such as a shape next to the name to assist them in identifying matches. Another way to play is to write uppercase letters on one shell and lowercase on another and inviting students to match. 
**Assessment Opportunity: Preschoolers are beginning to recognize that print carries a message. One of the first words a child will learn is their name, followed by the names of their friends and family members. While engaging in this game, assess this skill. Be prepared with a blank piece of paper or sticky note to jot down observations. 

Summer Phonics Practice!

This summer inspired activity is a perfect accessory for your Under the Sea theme.  This set will help young children match letters and letter sounds (an important early literacy skill). Take a closer look inside our Find the Missing Magnetic Letter Set. 
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Find the Missing Magnetic Letter Activities

Line Tracing with Sea Shells

Pre-K Printable Fun Community Member Chris Chapman created this invitation for her preschoolers to follow a line using seashells. 
Learning to follow a line is excellent for hand-eye coordination and an essential pre-reading and writing skill. 

Story Basket

Set up a story basket using a favorite book about under the sea creatures such as A House for Hermit Crab. Include crab figurines or stuffed animals and shells and of course a copy of the book. Plan to read the book aloud, children can then access the basket throughout the theme to retell the story. 

Fish for Magnetic Letters

Place a variety of Magnetic Letters inside a sensory bin. Encourage your student to fish for a letter. Once they pull it out they can announce the type of "fish" they caught! Encourage them to spell words, or their name.

More Under the Sea Language & Literacy Ideas

Alphabet Sounds Fishing from the Imagination Tree

Pre-K Printable Fun Story Time Book Companion Activities

Commotion in the Ocean Book Companion Activity

Commotion in the Ocean couldn't be a better reference to the creatures in the ocean. The book Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae is a great read aloud for this theme and we have an engaging companion set for after. You can find this Commotion in the Ocean Book Companion Activity​ in our shop. 
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Available in our Shop!

Preschool Ocean Book Suggestions

This week be sure to add both fiction and non-fiction books to your early learning environment. 
Here are a few fun books to dive into this week!
​What Lives in a Shell by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle
How to Hide an Octopus by Ruth Heller
The Sandcastle that Lola Built by Megan Mayno
​Over in the Ocean: in a reef by Marianne Berkes
Mr. Seahorse by Eric Carle
The Ocean Alphabet Book by Jerry Pollatta
Ocean: A Visual Encyclopedia by DK Publishing
Ocean: A Photicular Book by Dan Kainen
Commotion in the Ocean by Guiles Andreae

Measuring Fish

Invite your preschoolers to cast their rods and measure their fish using non-standard units of measurement with this simple but super educational fish measuring activity. It's easy to set up, making it the perfect addition to your theme. 
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Try This!

Writing Numbers in the Sand

Invite your preschooler to practice drawing numbers with a Beach Inspired Sand Tray.
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Try This!

Sorting Seashells by Attributes

Provide a variety of seashells in different sizes, shapes, colors, and textures along with some small containers or pieces of paper. 
Invite your preschooler to sort the shells by a common attribute. Challenge them to find many different ways to sort or order the seashells. 

​*Under the Sea Counting Mat

Counting mats are a fun way to practice number recognition and counting skills. 
​
Our Under the Sea Preschool Activity Pack includes counting mats for numbers 1-10 and for counting up to 20 with versions with frames and without. 

Use these mats with the included printable starfish or with your own fun Under the Sea manipulatives. 
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Under the Sea Preschool Activity Pack

Beginning Operations: Subtraction

For children that have mastered counting and number identification learning basic math operations is a great skill to work on. 
Subtraction Mats are a great tool for teaching this skill, add some sea shells for added engagement. 
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Pre-K Subtraction Activties

Read Aloud Activity: As Big as a Blue Whale

  • ​Materials: Rope cut to 100 feet
  • Procedure: Read a book about whales such as Is a Whale the Biggest thing there is? by Robert E. Wells.
  • Invite children to engage in conversation about how big a blue whale is. Encourage them to make guesses comparing a whale to common everyday objects. "I think a blue whale is as big as a ____" Record their guesses on a chalkboard or piece of paper. Next, have the children help you unravel the rope. Tell children the rope is the size that a blue whale can grow to. Allow time for conversation about size and comparison. Invite children to compare themselves to the size of the whale. Ask how many of them it would take to be the size of a whale. Ask what other objects are a similar size. 

Whale Sorting By Size

This sorting by size activity, included in our Under the Sea Preschool Activity Pack, is a great follow-up activity to the above read aloud  or at anytime during this theme.  Invite your preschoolers to learn and practice sorting objects by size utilizing the Under the Sea theme for engagement. 

Did you know the blue whale is the largest animal on earth? It can grow to over 30 feet long! Compare these objects to a whale: which is bigger and which is smaller? pencil, mountain, car, train, spoon, an elephant, a house, etc. 
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Under the Sea Preschool Activity Pack

School of Fish Counting Snack

Pour some Rainbow fish crackers into a small cup, encourage your students to sort them into schools of fish by Color. Before eating them, encourage them to the count the number of fish in each school.

Sensory Bin Ideas for Under the Sea/Ocean Week

There are so many fun ways to change up the sensory table during this theme. Here are just a few ideas:
  • Set up an ocean sensory bin with blue water beads, plastic ocean animals, shells, and plastic plants. Invite children to play in the bin and have the animals swim through the ocean or set up an ocean scene.
  • Freeze some ocean creature figurines in small bowls, toss into the water table for exploration and excavation. 
  • Set up the sensory bin with blue and green aquarium gravel, add in ocean figurines. 
​Ocean inspired sensory bin
shared by our reader Chris Chapman
Dye rice blue to represent water and add ocean animals for an engaging sensory activity!
Kinetic sand and sea themed molds are a perfect addition to this theme!

Study the Layers of the Ocean

Pre-K Printable Fun Community Member Chris Chapman shared this activity that she set up for the children in her program. 
Explore the differences in color in the different layers in the ocean and learn some new nomenclature. 

Seashell Exploration

Add seashells and a magnifying glass to the science center this week. 
Invite children to sort the seashells based on whether they feel rough or smooth. 
Consider adding the seashells along with some sand, salt, and water to your sensory table for some ocean exploration. 

Learn about the parts of a Fish

Learn about the parts of a fish and label them using this printable included in the PKPF Under the Sea Preschool Activity Pack. 
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Under the Sea Preschool Activity Pack

Under the Sea Sink Float

Community Member Ashley H. with Huwa Home Daycare created this fantastic Ocean Submarine Sinking and Floating exploration for her kiddos.  

Taking Care of the Ocean

Learning to take care of the environment is important for young children. Use this theme to teach children about the importance of properly disposing of garbage. One way to do this is to set up an oil spill clean up station
  • Materials: vegetable oil, bird feathers, spoons, large plastic bowls, dish soap, and water
  • Preparation: Set up your station(s). This can be done as a large group activity, independent exploration, or in pairs/small groups.
  • Each station will need a bowl with vegetable oil and feathers (mix in to coat the feathers), spoons or tongs to extract the feathers, dish of soapy water, and clean water for rinsing. 
  • Procedure: Start by giving children prior information about oil spills. Be sure to do this in a gentle way, you are simply introducing the concept.
  • Show students how the oil separates from the water and sticks to the feathers. Invite children to provide their observations. Ask them how they think the oil would affect sea creatures. Next, show children how the oil can be removed from the feathers with the soap. 
After engaging in this activity, invite children to engage in discussion about oil spills. You might ask them what it might be like for a sea animal to be covered in oil. What other kind of waste might impact the lives of sea creatures?
**Assessment Opportunity** Science: Recognizes cause and effect relationships

I Can Sort & Classify Animals

Set up an invitation to sort and classify animals. The I Can Sort & Classify Animals set from Pre-K Printable Fun includes 6 fun animal sorting and classification activities. This is a good opportunity to talk about the types of animals that live in the sea.
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I Can Sort & Classify Animals Activities

Sound Waves

During your Under the Sea theme you are likely to talk about waves in the ocean. 
This is a great lead into talking about another type of wave, sound waves!
This great video from the Montana Science Center provides an explanation and simple experiment that can be done with children to introduce this concept. 

Salt Water vs. Tap Water

2 cps. of water in small, clear, deep bowl. In a same sized bowl add 2cps of very warm water + 7 tbls salt. Sir until salt dissolves, and cools slightly. Students Predict whether the Egg will sink or float in  both the tap, and salt water. Follow up by testing your hypothesis.

Pollution

Set out 2 jars or bowls of water. Add a few mini sea creatures, Allow the students to add drops of different colored food coloring "pollutants" into one jar/bowl (leave the other pure). Have a discussion about which of the two jars/bowls they'd want to live in if they were sea creatures.
Brainstorm ideas about what can be done to keep the ocean clean.
Physical Development is an important part of the education of young children. Children develop large muscles before they develop small muscles. So not only is gross motor development an essential part of overall health, it is also very important for learning to write later on. Here are a few ideas for developing both Fine Motor Skills and Gross Motor Skills that align with the Under the Sea Theme

Jelly Fish Movement

Before this activity watch a video that explores how Jellyfish move!
Cut out long pastel crepe paper strip tentacles for each child. Listen to relaxing under the sea music and encourage your students to gently float and move around like jellyfish to the music.

​*Under the Sea Movement Cards​

Challenge preschoolers to move their body in a variety of ways with this free sample of Under the Sea Movement Cards found inside our Under the Sea Activity pack.
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Download this sample for free!

Under the Sea Play Dough Tray

Create an invitation to create an under the sea scene with play dough. 
Suggested Materials: Blue, green, yellow, and black play dough, ocean cookie cutters, rolling pins, small sea creatures and mini sea shells, sequins, and glitter play dough. 

​Hermit Crab Shells

Play a fun game where children swap "hermit crab shells"
  • Materials: Something to use as shells such as Bilibos, small laundry baskets, or large plastic bowls, a book about hermit crabs. 
  • Procedure: First, read a book about hermit crabs to give children some background information. Place the "shells" in various places around the room, inform children that they will be pretending to be a hermit crab. Play some ocean inspired music, randomly stop the music, when the music stops encourage children to travel to the nearest shell and wear it. Play the music again, this time when the music stops children will trade shells with the child nearest to them. 

Play with Sand Dough

Play Dough is an excellent tool for fine motor development. Try Making Your Own Sand Dough with our easy to follow tutorial and pair with summer inspired dough mats for added fun. 
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Try this!

Shark Corn hole

Member Victoria S. shared this photo of shark corn hole she set up for shark week in her program.
Teacher Tip: You can usually find a variety of low cost inflatable party games and toys, for your themes on Amazon, or from the oriental trading company. Inflatables are easy to store in bins for next year!

​Feed the Sharks

  • Materials: large piece of poster board, bean bags
  • Preparation: Create a shark from the poster board, this doesn't have to be anything fancy, simply create a shark outline, be sure to draw a large mouth (you could also create a Shark Cornhole game if you are super handy). Place the shark outline on the floor (you may want to tape to the floor). Place the beanbags in a basket a few feet away from the shark.
**Note: If you have a large group consider setting up two different play stations or split into small groups, have one group do another activity to reduce waiting times. 
  • Play: Children will take turns, this is a good opportunity to teach children about standing in line and about taking turns. For younger students, be sure they do not have a long wait, encourage children in line to observe the peer currently playing, engage them in conversation. Children will stand a few feet away from the shark and toss the bean bags (fish) towards the shark, the goal is to get the bean bag to land on the mouth of the shark to feed him. 
**Assessment opportunity: This is a great time to assess skills such as positional phrases, measurement terms, taking turns, hand-eye coordination, and overhand throwing. Have a notepad nearby to jot down notes or record play to review later. 
  • Variation: Set up a shark cutout on the front of a small box. Cut out a small hole where the mouth is. Cut out small fish from construction paper or card stock (as an added learning opportunity consider writing letters, names, shapes, or numbers on the fish). Place the fish in a large container on the floor. Invite students to take a fish out of the container, if applicable read what is on the fish, and then travel to the shark to feed him. 

​*First Sounds Clip Cards

Mix up fine motor with phonetic awareness with this hands-on activity. 
Clip cards are excellent for hand-eye coordination, dexterity, and finger strength. While working on physical development, preschoolers are also practicing letter recognition and learning beginning sounds. 
​These first sounds clip cards are ​included in the PKPF Under the Sea Preschool Activity Pack
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Under the Sea Preschool Activity Pack

Ocean Fishing

Set up a bin with water and plastic toy fish and other sea creatures. Leave out a variety of nets and invite children to go fishing by scooping out a fish and putting it in an empty container.

Crab Walk Race

Set up a start and finish line either outside or inside.
Show children how to crab walk and then have them race to the finish line!

Pinch like a grab

Encourage Students to use tongs. clothespins, or tweezers to pinch items like a crab.
Practice transferring objects to containers

The Earth's Ocean

Learn about Earth's Ocean! This is a fun time to discuss how there is one global ocean, but humans refer to them as 5 different oceans. 
Teach children the names of the five different oceans and show them on a large map hung on the wall. 
​Ask your students and their families if anyone has visited the ocean. This is a great time to share pictures of their visit to the ocean. 
  • Invite someone to class that has done some ocean sports or studied sea life to talk about their experiences. 
  • Find out if any of the students have family that live near an ocean. Mark the spot on a map and see how far they are away. 

Building Problem-Solving Skills

Preschoolers are learning there are many different ways to solve problems.
Learning many different approaches to solving problems helps children to be successful in both social problems and when approaching new or difficult tasks.
Reading books is a great way to show children how others might solve problems. 
Discussing the storyline and how the characters dealt with the problem 
  • Read the book The Sandcastle that Lola Built by Megan Mayno.
  • After reading, invite children to talk about the problems Lola experienced in the book and what she did to solve them. Ask them if they have ever been frustrated when something they worked hard on had been destroyed...how did they react?...how could they react next time? 
    • This is a good opportunity to practice problem-solving. You could set up a reenactment at the sandbox or even in the block area. Encourage children to come up with creative solutions. 
    • During this activity be sure to focus on words like "frustration", "problem-solving", "resolve", and "conflict"​

Calming Ocean

In your calm down space add ocean sensory bottles, calm ocean wave sounds music, and photographs of the ocean. 
When you add new items to your calm down space it's important to show children how they can be used. If you don't, you could very likely end up with calm down bottles being rolled across the room (which is fun, but not the purpose of these bottles dedicated to this space) and ocean sounds being played way too loud. 
Show the children these objects during circle time and talk about how they might be used when they visit the calm down space. 

Whale Breathing

​Explain that a whale's blowhole is what they use to breathe. Then encourage them to engage in "whale breathing". Teach deep breathing by encouraging children to take a deep breath in and hold for several seconds, then release like a whale through their blowhole. 

Beach Clean Up

Bring children to a local beach for a beach cleanup day. Give students gloves and trash pickers along with trash bags. Walk the beach together and pick up any litter.

Sea Jobs

Discuss people who work in or around the ocean.
Some examples include: Fishermen, Lifeguards, marine biologists, treasure hunters, sailors.

Summer Calendar

Add your theme to your summer calendar, the flip flop and palm tree themed number cards would be perfect for this theme. 
Try using the number cards in a variety of math activities as well!

Family Engagement

  • Ask parents to send in photos from when they visited the beach with their child. Some families may have seashells they are willing to loan to the classroom. 
  • Ask for parent volunteers to set up the Aquarium Dramatic Play Invitation or to set up a pretend beach. 
  • Set up an Under the Sea Family Literacy Night. Set up the classroom with literacy activities and extra spaces for reading together. Open the classroom for about an hour for parents to spend time reading and exploring literacy activities with their children. 
  • Send home an Under the Sea inspired math kit (such as adding with seashells) for children to play with their parents. 
  • Read: Article, 8 Ways to Engage Parents in Childcare

Share Family Experiences 

Invite students to bring in photographs of them from a time when they visited the ocean. Encourage them to share their experience with the group. Perhaps some children have family that live near the ocean, allow them time to talk about their family.

Community Involvement

  • If you live near an ocean, locate a local expert on sea life to come in and speak to your students, or arrange a field trip. 
  • After talking a bit about oil spills, challenge your group to think of a way they can help prevent pollution in their own community. Even small changes like making sure they always pick up their own trash can make a big difference!
  • Take a field trip to a pet store with aquariums (arrange this with the facility ahead of time). Ask the staff to share their expertise about saltwater fish and freshwater fish. 

Assessment and Portfolios

  • Physical Development: I Can Trace a Curvy Line (Summer Binder )
  • Language & Literacy: Name Recognition
  • Math: I use my senses to explore ​(Sense of Sound activity) demonstrates a basic understanding of addition & subtraction (Subtraction Mats)
There are many assessments that can take place as children engage in play during this theme. 
This week consider carefully observing children during the Seashell Memory: Name Recognition activity. Assess where children are at in their ability to recognize their own name as well as the names of their peers. 
Assessment Follow-up
Plan to increase support for children based on where they are at with this assessment. Children not yet recognizing their own name can benefit from more Name Recognition play invitations. 
Children that have mastered recognizing their own name can benefit from learning to recognize the names of their peers/family members or may even be ready for cvc word activities.

Follow the Leader: Under the Sea Style

Have a discussion with children about how many fish swim together in what is called a school of fish, mostly to protect themselves from predators. 
Then, invite your preschoolers to engage in a game of Follow the Leader. Challenge children to "swim" close to one another to stay with their school. 
The song Let's Go Swimming by The Laurie Berkner Band would be a great song to play during this activity. 

The Fish in the Sea: Storytime Scarf Song

The ladies over at Jbrary have so many fun resources to share for this theme. Here is a fun Storytime Scarf Song, ​The Fish in the Sea

More Group & Circle Time Activities

  • Sing ocean inspired fingerplays and songs such as Baby Shark, Down by the Bay, Baby Beluga, There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea, Under the Sea, Swimming Song, and Ocean Waves music
  • During small group time read an ocean alphabet book. Follow the activity by inviting students to say the name of an ocean creature that starts with the same letter their name does. 
  • Play Sharks and Minnows
  • Play Fish, Fish, Shark (variation on Duck, Duck, Goose)

​Learning on-the-go

If you're a homeschooling parent on-the-go, you know how important it is to have activities you can easily take with you wherever you go. 

Binder activities are perfect for learning in the car, out in the yard, small spaces, and just for fun. 

Our Summer Dry-Erase Binder is the perfect accessory for this theme, and easy to put together. Learn more about this binder on the Summer Binder blog post.

Summer Seek and Find

Hit the beach and bring along this checklist from the Summer Seek & Find set to see what you can spot at the beach. 
Or hide the cards in a bin full of sand for your child to find and then check off on the mat or find in the image. 

Under the Sea Ocean Animals Preschool Activity Pack

$7.00
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Under the Sea Movement Cards

$0.00
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Aquarium Dramatic Play Pack

$5.00
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Color Cut And Paste a Scene

$3.00
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Magnet Letter Summer Vocabulary Centers

$3.00
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Preschool Summer Binder

$4.00
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Summer Calendar Display

$3.00
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Summer Tracing Set

$5.00
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Summer Play Dough Mats

$3.00
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Summer Seek and Find Activities

$3.00
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Summer Word Wall and Vocabulary Activities

$3.00
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Commotion in the Ocean Book Companion

$3.00
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Learning Centers

Preschool Learning Centers are commonly referred to as Preschool Centers, or Learning Spaces. These are activity areas dedicated to a specific type of of play and exploring a variety of topics and activities. Download our Free set of Center Signs!