Simple Science and STEM for Every Day

Whales & Water Ocean Theme Activities Preschool

Ocean Sensory Play and Early Learning 

Hands-On Preschool Activities

ocean sensory play and early learning activities

Our spontaneous whales and water ocean theme has so far been a big hit around here. I decided to continue the momentum by preparing several activities the night before for him to do in the morning. I was still not expecting him to jump right in and I didn’t want to push him to do so. Simply, I wanted to offer him some ideas for play with or without me and see what he would choose if anything at all.

Invitation To Explore The Ocean

Here are the activities I decided to go with today. They really aren’t his favorites (ABC’s) but I want to make it fun and interesting. I had a lot of sensory materials out for him today. Such a trial and error with presentation!

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Corn meal sensory play with alphabet shells to put in order.

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Exploring whales activity with felt ocean and whale cards.

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Shell counting at the bottom of the ocean!

He told me he was ready to do activities and chose the corn meal alphabet first. I chose to let him help pour the corn meal out onto the try a and spread it around and play with it for a few minutes before we started. I hoped this would help him engage better. Having him helped worked out nicely, though my attempt to have him draw letters with his finger didn’t go over so well. He worked hard on his alphabet!

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We moved on tot he imaginative play part with felt ocean , whales and their fact cards. He actually again chose this and started laying out the “ocean” as he called it all on his own. I showed him how he could bunch up the felt and make waves! We looked through the cards and I named off the whales (good thing the names are on the bottom). He knew the humpback and the beluga!

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Our last activity of the morning was a bottom of the ocean counting bin with shells. I had the numbers 1-20 in a bowl and plenty of shells in a basket. He simple chose a number (out-of-order on purpose for recognition and also motivation) and counted out the shells. He cleaned up the shells and started over. Sometimes he would bury them too. Good for independent play after by adding a scoop or shovel and a bucket!

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I found a few short clips of whales on the computer for him to look to see how they swim and I showed him the pictures from our trip to Mystic Aquarium where there is a Beluga whale to view above and below the water. He can’t wait to go back now and neither can we!

More Ocean Activities To Try

Ocean book sensory bins to go6 Awesome Ocean Science Activities For KidsWhales and Shells Play Dough Play

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jenn L

    These are such creative ideas! I love how colorful and tactile they all are. My kids are obsessed with anything involving the ocean, so I’m sure they would love these! Thanks for sharing. 🙂

  6. Carla

    It’s so interesting that he likes them spaced out more! I love how you’re building a whole unit around his current interest–and it looks like so much fun! Thanks for sharing it at Teach Me Tuesday at Preschool Powol Packets!!

  7. littlebins

    He is definitely a gross motor kid and needs the sensory input constantly. We have a trampoline that he can use anytime in the work area too and we do clapping exercises to before fine motor work.

  10. Angelue'

    Found your link at 1+1+1=1…These are great activities that I will definitely remember when we do our ocean study the second half of summer. Thanks for sharing!

  11. littlebins

    Great! Thank you for looking at what we did. I can’t wait to actually get to the ocean and see everything up close. He wants to see a real humpback whale 😉