Under the Sea
- 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.
- 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!
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!
- Gather your materials. You will need some construction paper, some paint , crayons or markers, scissors, glue and some tissue paper, or ribbon for the tentacles.
- Draw a big FAT O, it needs to be fat so when you cut it out it is strong enough .
- Have your child paint / color the O. Ask them about the letter while they do this or if they are younger you can name it a few times and see if they will mimic you. We are using paint dobbers, they dry fast and are not very messy!
- While your child is painting cut our 8-10 ( some may rip) tentacles, we are using tissue paper but ribbon or regular construction paper would do in a pinch.
- Cut out the O.
- Put 8 dots of glue on the back side of the O.
- Glue on the tentacles.
- Throughout the day oh and ah their beautiful O!!
- Gather your materials. You will need 2 pieces of foam sheets, a marker, scissors, glue and some sequins. If you don’t have foam sheets fear not, plain old construction paper works too.
- Draw an outline of a fish on one piece of foam and cut out.
- Lay the first fish on the second piece of foam and draw a slightly larger outline and cut it out.
- Make small cuts into the tail for a 3D effect, don’t cut too far or you may cut the tail off!
- Cut a small mouth and hole for an eye. The larger outline underneath will make it look like there is a mouth and an eye! You could also use a gooley eye instead of cutting a hole. Glue the two pieces together.
- Add lots of glue dots!
- Add your sequins!
Books!
For some great books about Fish click here !
Song!
Shark Attack!
Baby Shark
doot doot doot doot
Baby Shark
doot doot doot doot
Mama Shark
doot doot doot doot
Mama Shark
doot doot doot doot
Daddy Shark
doot doot doot doot
Daddy Shark
doot doot doot doot
Here comes a Swimmer
doot doot doot doot
Here comes a swimmer
doot doot doot doot
SHARK ATTACK
doot doot doot doot
SHARK ATTACK
doot doot doot doot
No more Swimmer
doot doot doot doot
No more Swimmer
doot doot doot doot
Thanks for Dinner
doot doot doot doot
Thanks for Dinner
doot doot doot doot
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