Germs!

Cut confetti out of various colors of construction paper and stuff in into an uninflated balloon. Blow up the balloon and have a pin ready. Pretend to sneeze and at the same time pop the balloon. The confetti or "germs" will fly all over the room. Explain to the children that it is similar with germs when you sneeze. If you don't cover you mouth and nose with a tissue then the germs go all over everyone and everything. Have the children look at how far the germs went. As a transition to wash their hands, sprinkle glitter or "germs" onto their hands and have them scrub until they are all off. It helps them to understand that germs hide in between their fingers and it sometimes takes a while to wash them all off.

Alphabet Walk

Make binoculars with your children out of toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls. Cover them with construction paper and decorate them with markers, crayons, sticker, etc. Hole punch two holes (one on each side of the binoculars) and tie a string to go around their necks. Then take them on a walk around the neighborhood and look for letters on signs, houses, license plates, cars, etc. Have the children call out the letters they see and try to sound out the words. You could also do this same thing with shapes, colors, or numbers.

Ocean Songs

Baby Beluga
Five Little Fishies Swimming in the Sea (Words in another post)
Ishy Ishy Dance (Words in another post)
My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea
Baby Shark Song (Words in another post)
Slippery Fish Song
Down By the Bay

Ocean Transitions

*Fish Seration (smallest to largest)
*Patterning of different ocean animals
*Counting goldfish in fishbowl
*Ordering shells (# on shells)
*Crab walk to wash hands
*Octopus leg ordering (have head of octopus and #s on legs. Have each child put the next # on)
*Play gossip or telephone with ocean animals
*Ordering 4 beach things (You order them a certain way, mix them up and have them duplicate it the way you had it)
*Sort animals that live in the ocean and animals that don't

Activities for Ocean/Water week

*Play Go Fish (Card Game)

*Play "Let's Go Fishing" (Kids game with plastic fishing poles and fish that open and shut mouths)

*Fish, Fish, Shark (Duck, Duck, Goose)

*Crab Walk Races

*Shark Attack (Play tag and whoever is it is the shark)

*Cut out ocean animals, write gross motor activities on the back and hide them around the room. Have one child at a time find one and do the activity written on the back. For example: swim, skip, walk backwards, crab walk, jumping jacks, hop on one foot, etc.

*Put a beach umbrella in the sand box with buckets, shovels, shells, etc.

*Paint your windows with blue paint and have the kids cut out fish to put "in the ocean"

*Hang blue crepe paper from the ceiling

*Dance with scarves (octopus or jellyfish tenticles) to "Under the Sea"

Ocean Crafts

This picture is sideways. It is a coral tracer that you can either have the children cut out (if they are skilled with scissors) or you can have them pre-cut for the kids. You let them paint with brushes or fingers with orange, red, etc. and then let them sprinkle puffed rice on top of the paint to look like a coral reef. This is a crab that you let the children paint with karo syrup mixed with red dye. It leaves a shiny effect. Have them sprinkle it with sand if they want after they are done painting it.
This lobster can be traced and cut out by the children. Add brad fasteners so that the kids can move the arms.
This is just one of many fish activities you can do. Cut out the triangle for the mouth and use that same triangle for the tail fin. Hole punch the eye to encourange greater hand strength. Then you can color or paint it. We added glitter since we read the Rainbow Fish that day.
*You can also make a "fish bowl" craft by cutting a fish bowl shape out of construction paper, painting it with blue karo syrup, adding small rocks (colored are best) to the bottom of the bowl, then sticking goldfish crackers in the bowl.

*Make sandcastles out of clay and sand mixed together. When they dry the children can take them home.

*Paper bag fish- fill a lunch sack 1/2 full of old newspaper and then tie it with a string. Fan the end of the bag to look like a tail. Add googley eyes to each side and let the children decorate it with markers, crayons, glitter and glue, etc.

*Octopus- Have the children cut eight strips of paper and then # them from 1-8. You could have the top of the octopus already cut out or let them trace and cut it out. Then have them put the legs on the octopus in order 1-8.

*Jellyfish- Have the children trace and cut out a semi-circle for the top of the jellyfish. Use crepe paper for the tenticles. Let them choose how long they want the tenticles and then glue them on to the top. Hang them from the ceiling and the fan or A/C will make them move.

*Sharks- Cut out a large shark head with mouth open and have the children cut out little triangles for the teeth. Have them glue the teeth in the sharks mouth and color the shark.

Ocean/Water Books

Rainbow Fish By Marcus Pfister
Swimmy
Fidety Fish
ABSeas
A House for Hermit Crab By Eric Carle
Guess Who Ocean Friends By Jodie Shepherd
Dolphin's Big Leap! By Kimberly Wienberger
Clumsy Crab By Ruth Galloway
The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog By Ana Martin Larranaga
The Selfish Crocodile by Faustin Charles
Five Green and Speckled Frogs
Ruby in Her Own Time (Ducks) By Jonathan Emmett
The Pout-Pout Fish By Deborah Diesen
Down By the Cool of the Pool (Frog) By Tony Mitton
Commotion in the Ocean By Giles Andreae
Five Little Sharks Swimming in the Sea By Steve Metzger
Colors with Crocodile (Toddler Board Book)