OCEAN WEEK - A creative take on teaching kids about oceans By Little Feats LA
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The first lesson of our learning space was Ocean Week! As the weather gets warmer here in Southern California, this was one of the most fitting topics. With our young minds ready to explore, we decided to start our school outdoors and be very hands-on. The learning activities from ocean week are very versatile. They can be done both indoors and outdoors.
We always start our lessons with a circle time activity and song. We feel that this is a great base to set the stage for the day. The kids “get in the zone” and know that it is time to learn and have fun in the process. For ocean week, we read some ocean life-based books and sang a good morning song to one another.
Here is a snippet of our song, “Good morning Avleen, good morning Avleen, good morning Avleen, how are you today? Good morning Zephyr, good morning Zephyr, good morning Zephyr, how are you today?” After we sang our song, it was time to learn. We started our circle time with some books about the ocean and the animals that live within them. We found some great picture books with short facts about ocean animals at The Dollar Tree! Another of our favorites is “Coral Kingdom” by Laura Webber. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE
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This book is a great read to teach colors and importance of keeping our oceans clean.
We wanted the kids to have something personalized that they could create each week as we entered in to a new topic. So thanks to the Dollar Tree, we were able to find small travel cups with removable liners. The kids removed the printed liners and cut out their own colorful liners made from construction paper. They personalized it with stickers. We helped write their names (that they recognize exceptionally well at their age) with a pencil, and had them trace it with a marker. This is a great way for the kids to get excited about a new topic!
The first lesson was for the children to learn to recognize their letters. With the help of Dollar Tree, we filled buckets we purchased full of sand. In the buckets, we placed a number of seashells (also from Dollar Tree). On each seashell, we wrote a letter. Each child was instructed to take turns digging until they found a shell. Then they had to tell us what letter it was and what sound that letter makes. This is a great way for the children to learn to recognize the letter and associate it with its collective sound.
The next lesson was to use our motor skills and eye-catching colors in the process. Each child chose a sea creature that interested them from the ocean and then we outlined the sea creature on their choice of construction paper. We then filled in the entire outline with Elmer’s glue. With some watercolors and slight instructions, we were on our way to create beautiful pieces of art. While the glue was still wet, we sprinkled salt all over glue making sure to cover all angles. We then instructed the kids use the watercolors and paint the salt. With some trial and error, they discovered that it took a slight touch of the paint to cover the salt art. They soon covered the entire sea creature with beautiful watercolors.
Our learning space group goes for 2 hours solid. For three year olds that can be overwhelming and a lot of stimulation. Make sure to take snack break! We often find that if we review or even read to them during their snack break they seem to absorb more of the learning material.
Today we had
a kid friendly cheese spread!
Accompanied by some adorable ocean themed friends!
We shifted gears and changed location for our following class! We have incorporated a combination of Montessori style teaching with hands on creative learning. Changing locations or having “field trips” has kept our kids engaged and excited. When planning your lesson, check out your local dollar stores or Target “dollar spot.” There are always some great gems. We found fun ocean themed window clings at the Target Dollar Spot. We wanted the kids to add their personal touch to the space and had them decorate the window.
We again started with a welcome song and proceeded into the first lesson! Math was first on the agenda! We found some decorative flat stones from the Dollar Tree to help us count. We downloaded these amazing counting sheets from The Measured Mom They each had a different amount of bubbles coming out of their mouths. The kids then used their decorative stones to cover each bubble and keep count. Their excitement was through the roof!
We then decided to change scenery and take the kids outside to create their own ocean in a bottle. We found some great plastic containers from the Dollar Tree which we asked the kids to pour blue water we made using food coloring. We had each child to add baby oil to show the separation of the liquids. Before pouring each liquid into the small jars, we asked the kids what they thought was going to happen. Was the blue water going to mix with the baby oil? Or was it going to stay separate? It was great to hear their hypothesis. We then added some glitter and a few seashells to the mixture for some added ocean magic.
Ocean In A Bottle
Science play based learning
Our next lesson was to create their own ocean art. We again used the small tubs (from the seashell activity). We cut out small oval pieces of construction paper and lined the bottom of the bucket. We then added a few drops of paint to each lined paper. The kids added some water beads that they used like a paintbrush. They vigorously shook the containers to distribute the paint with water beads. The outcome was magical and memorable for each child!
Our final activity for Ocean Week was to have each child experiment with ice and see which method would work the best to melt ice the fastest. The night before, we placed toys in balloons and filled them with water then put them in the freezer to use the next day. Each child was given a few balloons and was asked what method they thought would work best. 1) Salt? 2) Heat from our hands? And of course their favorite, 3) Smashing them on the ground to get the toys out! They did not know that salt could melt ice. And the reason of course was that the salt helped lower the temperature of the ice to aid in the melting process.
