Ocean Lesson Plans for Preschool Teachers & Theme Activities for Kids
The ocean is so vast and complex with all its creatures, ocean life forms, plants and organisms. Why not create an ocean lesson plan for preschool teachers or ocean theme for parents to help teach kids?
As teachers/parents using ocean theme lesson plans for preschool children and teaching kids about ocean animals, we need to be sure to keep things simple, yet interesting.
We do not want to overwhelm the preschoolers or kindergarten children by using too many facts and details about the ocean or sea and all the creatures and things in it.
Keep things basic in this lesson plan and fun by using sea creatures and ocean life that the pre k children and kindergarten children already know about and can relate to.
For example, you could teach kids about and focus on familiar sea life like dolphins, whales, seals, star fish or sharks.
You can build on this educational lesson plan & theme idea by using the ocean lesson plan for preschool teachers and suggestions below.
Ocean Animals, Sea Creatures & Plant Life for Your Lesson Plan:
- When starting out and building ocean theme lesson plans for preschool children be sure to stick to using examples of sea and ocean life that children already understand and know about like sharks, whales, dolphins, octopus, starfish, seahorses, sand dollars, and even simply fish in general.
- You should stay away from trying to name all the different type of fish because that could prove to be very overwhelming to the children in the classroom.
- To be most effective in helping the kids to learn about your topic, or the different types of fish etc. you need to have pictures of the fish or sea life you are discussing and learning about.
- Doing this will help the children to relate the image of the ocean life or sea creature to the name. You can have the children describe what they see in the pictures or photos that you use.
- You could talk about the different types of plants and vegetation that live in the ocean. Plant life such as seaweed, coral reefs etc. Again, try to be sure to have pictures of them and discuss the pictures with the children to help them learn.
Ocean Theme Lesson Plan Resources & Teaching Tools:
In your classroom library or on your bookshelf, be sure to have books about the ocean and books or stories about ocean animals and more for the children to explore and flip through.
Be sure to have some colorful (preferred) pictures and photos of the ocean or drawings of the ocean or sea.
Create an Ocean Flip Book:
You can find old magazine (National Geographic, Sport Fishing etc.) and cut out the various colorful pictures of ocean life, fish, whales, colorful fish etc.
You can then place these images etc into a binder or binder with protective sleeves to create these books that children can flip through and explore to learn about the different kinds of sea life, vegetation and creatures found in the ocean
Create an Ocean in a Bottle:
Create an ocean in a bottle using a simple water bottle, some blue food coloring etc. You can also add sand, small sea shells and other things. You can get all the details to create this fun learning activity as described here.
Books & Activities for an Ocean Lesson
Ocean Lesson Activities for Children:
Find ocean themed coloring pages of different types of common ocean life like whales, sharks, octopus’, dolphins, sea gulls and different types of ocean vessels like boats and ships.
Find ocean theme puzzles, worksheets for the kids.
Toys & Sensory Bin Activities:
- Ocean theme toys, toy boats, whales, sharks and other toy fish etc.
- Add ocean related toys or items to the sensory bin that relate to this pre k theme lesson plan, like toy boats and toy fish etc. You could fill the classroom sensory bin or small bin up part of the way with some water.
- Then to make it fun just add some blue sparkles to the water with the ocean animal toys and related sea creatures and items.
Talk About The Ocean:
- You can discuss how the bottom of the ocean is covered with sand, rocks, sea shells, various types of plants and seaweeds and even corral reef etc.
- You can discuss and explain what type of sea creatures and ocean life crawl along the bottom of the ocean floor such as lobsters, crabs, star fish and other ocean creatures.
- You could talk about what types of sea birds you find near the sea. Birds like sea gulls, pelicans and even penguins etc. near certain oceans.
Fish or Water Pets for the Classroom:
- You could get a small aquarium that will hold 2-3 fish and have this as a class pet for the kids to see everyday.
- Be sure to name the fish that are in the new aquarium. You can make an ocean like home for the fish by putting gravel on the bottom of the fish tank, adding plants and shells etc. for hiding and color.
- Have the preschool children in the classroom take turns feeding the fish each day (teaches responsibility).
- You can make a simple chart to help keep track of the feeding.
- You can designate one child to feed the fish each day. You can have one child help you to clean the fish aquarium for a simple, fun class project.
- Cleaning the fish tank only needs to be done once every 3 weeks or so using the right products.
Setting the Mood for your Ocean Theme Lesson Plan:
You can find fun kids music or songs for kids that are about the ocean. Play music in the background that is about the ocean or find relaxing ocean waves and the sounds of the ocean to help get children in the mood and to set the tone.
Sing Songs About The Ocean:
You can sing songs about sea creatures and the ocean such as kids songs about fish, whales, sharks etc. with the children. There are some fun ocean song example video below that you can use with your kindergarten and preschool children.
Animals in the Ocean Songs
Down in the Deep Blue Sea Songs
There's A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea
Under the Sea Song for Kids
There are no shortage of educational materials and research that can be done or supplied for an ocean them lesson plan for teaching children.
Use your imagination, keep on topic and keep it fun and entertaining for the preschoolers. This is the best way for preschool and kindergarten children to learn, by keeping it interesting.
Please be sure to Bookmark This or Share It Socially!