I live and teach on Bainbridge Island, which means my preschool students come to preschool with a pretty good understanding of beaches, and ocean animals. The same way city kids go to busy playgrounds and are familiar with public transit. My kids are familiar with ferry boats and the ocean. That makes teaching about the ocean and beaches much more fun because they have excellent prior knowledge. Your students don’t need to be regular beachcombers to enjoy and learn with these ocean crafts for preschool.
Ocean Activities for Math Centers
This ocean-themed math game for preschool is fun and helps to teach one-to-one correspondence and subitizing.
These printable ten frame cards are a great way to work on number sense with your preschoolers.
Yes, symmetry is a math skill, but it’s also a literacy one. Working on visual discrimination helps with number and letter recognition and other skills.
Children love this math game, and it can be done independently or in a small group!
Ocean Sensory Play
It’s simple. That’s a good thing. My students loved playing with this last week, and I loved seeing what they created.
Add even more fine motor work and some extra creativity to your playdough table with this activity.
If you are braver than me, you can make the slime with your students.
Ocean themed Literacy Activities
Shell Say & Write.
Grab some shell easter eggs and fill them with magnetic letters. Have your students say the letter, then write it on a whiteboard. It’s simple and effective.
Ocean Song Print out your lyrics here. I know singing can be uncomfortable for some of us, but it’s a literacy activity that is hugely beneficial to our students. Songs play with words in all different forms.
So many ways to use these letter fish. I made them years ago ( that’s my son who is going into his sophomore year of high school now), and they have held up. I use them all the time with my students.
Ocean Crafts for Preschool
This sea urchin craft is very simple, but its steps are beneficial for preschoolers because they help to develop skills needed for eventual handwriting and self-help skills. Kneading the air dry clay helps to develop hand strength, pushing the toothpicks in helps with pincer grasp development and hand-eye coordination, and carefully painting the hardened sea urchin with a small paintbrush offers students another chance to work on these skills and perseverance.
This is a fun process art project that uses that extra bubble wrap as a tool for painting.
Toilet Paper Roll Fish – I love this craft. It’s cute, requires some concentration, and cheers up any place you decide to pop it! It is one of my favorite ocean activities for preschoolers.
I know you have at least one student that thinks glitter is the BEST. So give in and do this simple project with them!
This is a fun and easy ocean animal craft to make.
These X-ray fish are less about art and more about scissor skills. Give students a few pieces of white paper and have them cut out the bones for the fish. Glue them on a voila!
Ocean Themed Science for Preschool
A really effective way for us to teach and children to learn is to sort things into in and out-groups. Habitat sorting does that!
Classifying Sea Animals
Loved these ocean crafts for preschool and Need more summer preschool activities?
Check out Everyday Preschool. It’s perfect for learning at home this summer. Check it out on Amazon here!
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