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All good things must come to an end, and so too must my Ocean themed Tot School unit. I have had so much fun with my boys as we learned about aquatic life, and tried out some fantastic games and crafts. Today I’m going to show you the rest of what we tried out, and give you my final verdict on what to try (and what to stay away from!).

Underwater Chalk Art

This was a really unique activity that turned out to be a lot of fun – even for Mommy! The supplies are minimal and the results are striking. Best of all – this is a activity that covers a wide range of ages so everyone can participate together.

Supplies:

• Dark Colored Construction Paper
• Chalk
• Sponges
• A Shallow Dish of Water

How To:

Use your dish of water to wet the sponge and apply it to both sides of your construction paper. Let it get good and wet! Then use the chalk to draw on the wet paper. As the paper dries your chalk art will become bright and vivid. See? I told you it was crazy easy!

For the littlest tots the sensory experience of handling a sponge and wet paper will be fun enough. This is a very tactile art project that can create some really fun looking art.

Animal Activity Cards

I designed this free printable to encourage kids to get up and get moving. Each card features a cute ocean creature and an action for your child to perform. They can ‘Wiggle like a jellyfish’ or ‘Squawk like a Seagull’. It didn’t take long for this to turn into a game of ‘who can be sillier?’ at our house. After sitting still for an art project it’s great to get moving, so this was a perfect follow-up to our underwater chalk art.To download yours just sign up below and you’ll be sent an access code for my Free Digital Resource Library!

Colored Rice Sensory Bin

As I mentioned in Part I, Safari Limited Ocean Toobs played a huge part in our Ocean themed tot school unit. They worked very well in our water bead bin,  but they’re also perfect in a dish of blue colored rice. Rice is always a safe bet if you feel that your little ones aren’t quite ready to be trusted with water beads.

If you haven’t made colored rice you can see how we do it here.

Our Favorite Ocean Themed Books

I LOVE to read, and I try my hardest to instill that love in my boys. I think the most important thing is to read as often as possible, so I always go out of my way to find books that go with our tot school themes. Here are a few of the books we enjoyed the most:

DK Eyewitness Books: Ocean – I adore the DK Eyewitness Series. The books offer great graphics along with a wide array of facts. Even if the books don’t hold your child’s attention, the eye-popping images should.

Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae – This is a fun book for all ages. It features brightly colored illustrations accompanied by short poems. Each poem highlights a different ocean creature in a light and informative way.

Clark the Shark by Bruce Hale – Clark the Shark has a whole series of books now, but this is the original. It tells the tale of poor Clark who is just too big and rough for his smaller classmates. I think it’s definitely a must if you have boys, to help them learn to be considerate and not play too rough.

The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen – One of my favorite children’s books, the Pout-Pout Fish is just fun to read. Who doesn’t love the face you make as you chant “Blub …. Blub …. Blub”? The prose has a great cadence and the end has a nice twist. Overall this is a book you will come back to time and again.

The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister – This book is another classic, and if you haven’t read it you probably have at least seen it on a bookshelf before. It tells the tale of Rainbow Fish who learns the joys of sharing his beautiful shiny scales. The message of generosity is fantastic for children and the artwork is beautiful. It would be impossible to have an ocean unit without Rainbow Fish.

Wrap-Up

Our ocean unit was a ton of fun! I feel like my boys learned a lot and I will definitely pull out some of these activities again as Nugget gets older and is ready to participate more. The biggest hit was the ice-cavating activity and the least successful was the jellyfish bottle.

Which activities did you try?

Comment below with your own hits and misses, and let me know if there is a tot school theme you would like to see soon.

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