Ocean Commotion - Fun Beach-Themed Activities!
We love the idea of an end-of-the-year ocean unit and found some fantastic activities at Mrs. Ayers' KinderThemes! Here are a few of our favorites, in no particular order...
Fish Sorting
Since it's the end of the year and it's likely your students have had quite a bit of exposure to different methods of classification, provide your kiddos with a sorting exercise that offers a bit of a challenge. Given a stack of construction paper fish manipulatives, invite your kinders to come up with, on their own, three different ways to sort the cards {instead of leading them through the activity}. They might choose to group the fish by size, by color, by type, by visible characteristics {i.e. stripes v. no stripes}, etc. Provide small fish bowls with which students can complete each sorting activity. Be sure to have students record the ways in which they classified the manipulatives, as well as the number of fish in each category, then discuss the different ideas and results as a class.
Ocean Movement
Find a CD of ocean sounds {i.e. waves, gulls, etc.}. As you play the track, invite your kiddos to imagine they're at the beach, pretending to swim, jump over waves, sway like seaweed/kelp, surf, and even move like some of the sea creatures they encounter - crabs, sea slugs, fish, octopi, etc. This is a fantastic way to foster imaginative pretend play, build gross motor control, and even get some of the "end-of-school wiggles" out!
Seawater Science
Have your students discover the difference in density between fresh water and salt water by showing what happens to a raw egg when placed in each liquid - the egg immediately sinks when put into the cup of water, but floats when placed in the salt water solution. Invite your students to transfer this concept to the real world, discussing what this might mean for a swimmer, etc.
These are just a few of the fantastic activities Mrs. Ayers has compiled at her site. Be sure to visit and get to planning your end-of-the-year ocean unit - if not this year, for next year!
