Archive for the ‘Under the Sea’ Category
Submarine Craft
This was a spur of the moment craft. We were going to make a lady bug but at the last minute my son said “I know! Ubb-marine.” So after I drew a few funny looking things I came up with this. Because it was last minute we only have one book today. If you have a great submarine book please leave the title in the comments for everyone to check out!
- Gather your materials. You will need a piece of construction paper, some crayons, a marker, scissors, tape and tissue paper.
- Start by drawing a basic submarine.
- Hand it to your little sailor and have them color it to their hearts content!
- While they do that cut the tissue paper into small squares.
- Cut it out
- Fold in half and cut circles on the fold.
I asked my son how many he wanted. Older kids can do this step independently.
- Flip over and add the tissue paper. Tape right over it all. I did this step, but handed my son some tape to tape some scrap paper and you’d think I gave him a huge bowl of ice cream he was so excited. So even though I was taping our project he was still participating.
- Pop it up in your window and let the sun shine through the portholes!
Posted in Age 2-3 years, Age 3-5 years, Crafts, Submarines, Transportation, Under the Sea | 
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Cupcake Jelly Fish !
We braved Costco this past weekend and my son of course wanted to try every sample available. The garbage can was never handy so I carefully folded the liners in my pocket and went on shopping. When the checkout lines were insane as usual I grabbed them and we played with them, then I got the idea to turn them into jelly fish! Here s how we did it.
- Gather your materials. You will need some cupcake liners, markers, tape, tissue paper, googly eyes, and a piece of blue construction paper.
- Start by folding your liner in half. Oh and yes these are the liners from Costco, but don’t worry they just had dried mango in them nothing gooey.
- Have your child color them with markers. It was interesting because my son was coloring really really carefully on these, instead of with his normal wild abandon.
- While they color the liners, cut the tissue paper into thin strips.
- Place the tissue paper on the back and tape down. We used tape because we need to glue the eyes on the front and glue on both sides is super messy especially when tissue paper bleeds. Double stick tape is great for this because the tissue will stay put immediately.
- Glue your jelly fish onto the paper.
- Now you can add the googly eyes *You can also decorate the construction paper with an under the sea theme. After Costco and a craft my son was done!
“Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea” by Jan Peck is about a little boy swimming in the “deep” looking for treasure. Along the way he encounters different sea animals and greets and says good bye to each before swimming away on his treasure hunt. The cute kicker is that all along the little boy is really in his bath tub and the animals are just toys. I liked the twist and so did my son who then requested a laundry basket to play bath, funny how he didn’t actually want a bath… a mom can dream!
“Otto Goes To The Beach” by Todd Parr was a steal of a deal at the Goodwill last week! I got a hardcover in perfect condition for 70 cents. My bargin hunting aside, I really enjoy this book as did my son. Otto is a dog who goes to the beach but no one wants to do the same things as he does, even the fish swim the other way! In the end after feeling very sad Otto finds a new friend and all his misery is forgotten. I love Todd Parr books, I love the insanely bright colors, the cute simplistic illustrations and I love the messages they send. This book followed his other books perfectly and provided a great final message about not giving up finding a friend who will like all the same things you do!
Letter Of The Week S s !
- Gather your materials. You will need 1-2 full size pieces of construction paper ( two if you want to mount the finished seahorse on some paper), water colors, paintbrush, some water, glue, sparkles, scissors, a googley eye and some scrap paper.
- Start by drawing an S on your paper, I used the seahorse on “Mister Seahorse” below as a guide, but a regular upper case S would do the trick.
- Hand the letter over to your child to paint with water colors.
- While they paint cut the scrap paper into little fin shapes, we did some triangle and some trapezoids.
- Set the S aside to dry and hand your child some glitter to use on the shapes
. Let dry
- Glue the googley eye on .
- Glue the shapes onto the S
- When everything is dry cut the S out and glue onto a 2nd piece of construction paper.
Books !
“Mister Seahorse” by Eric Carle is a story about the more involved fish fathers in the sea. Mister seahorse isn’t the only fish that takes care of his eggs until they hatch , in the book we meet other dads that do too. I didn’t realize how many people don’t like this book until I read some reviews on amazon when ordering the book a few months ago. Many parents are off put by the father fish who announces he is “babysitting” his own baby fish. It never really bugged me even though when a parent says that in real life it irks me. All the positive daddy fish outweighs that one comment for me.
Twinkle Twinkle Little
- Gather your materials. You will need some sturdy paper, I used an old grocery bag but card stock would work too. Paint, a paint brush, 5 popsicle sticks, glue and some glitter paint or sequins.
- Draw a big starfish. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be perfect, mine isn’t!
- Have your child choose a paint color is they know their colors and paint the starfish. We only used one color but you can use as many as you wish.
- While the paint dries a little , grab the sticks and cover one side with sparkle paint or add the sequins. I did one stick and then let my son try , he needed some help but did pretty well. He did two all by himself!
- Glue the sticks on the starfish, I added the glue and let my son put the sticks on top of it.
- Let dry and cut out.
” Commotion in the Ocean “ by Giles Andreae is a fun look at the different creatures are all cute and informative but not too long for younger children. The illustrations by David Wojtowycz are bright m endearing and I think they steal the show!
” Secret Seahorse” by Stella Blackstone is a fascinating and beautiful board book. The story follows a little seahorse that hides on each page as it makes it’s way along the ocean back to it’s family. The illustrations are felt, fabric, sequins and other fun and very beautiful hand stitched creations. I am never ready for the next page because the previous has so much to look and marvel at. Kids like finding the seahorse on each page too!
These Jelly Fish Don’t Sting!
Paper Plate
Jelly Fish!
- Gather your materials. You can use regular paper, paper plates or even coffee filters for the body. We used markers to color the body, but paint, crayons or even stickers, would work just as well. I have extra gif wrap for the stingers but any paper or even ribbons would work.
- Decorate! Remember to let your child go to town, color as much or as little as they want. If your child is a quick finisher you can try to do the art along with them and taking your time will likely encourage them to spend more time on it too.
- Cut your paper plate in half.
- Fan fold your gift wrap or paper for the stingers. Older children can paint or color some paper and help you fold it , with younger or impatient ones I would suggest using a paper like this gift wrap that already has a pattern. Too many steps can be too challenging for little guys.
- Cut the folded paper in strips. Attach them to the underside of the paper plate, use glue if your little one can wait to play, tape if they can’t!
I’m a little fishy , watch me go!
I swim fast and I swim slow.
When the day is over , it’s time to sleep
I swim up high and dive down deep.
Books!
” Fish is Fish “ by Leo Lionni is a fantastic fable about a minnow and a tadpole and how friendships can endure even when the friends change.
” Don’t eat the teacher!” by Nick Ward is a silly book about a shark with a lack of self control, a good book to help teach self discipline.
” Gilbert de le Frogponde : A swamp story.” by Jennifer Rae is a fun story about a lazy frog who outwits 2 chefs who have come to the swamp looking for a frog to cook!
