Learning about the ocean is always exciting, with this game your children will be engaged in a fun and learning experience while exploring bright colours, textures and ocean creatures like fish, crabs, sharks, octopus, starfish, whales, and turtles!
What we need:
Paper clips
Foam creatures
Googly eyes
Paper plate
Ring Magnet, Sticks, String or yarn and tape for the fishing rod
Loose parts
Ocean-themed sensory bag - this was put together with a sandwich bag filled with clear hair gel (tinted with blue food colouring) and various sea creatures inserted. Be sure to tape the top closed to avoid spillage.
How to play:
Explore all the materials together. Try to identify the creatures, describe each of them with each other, and use your imagination to decorate them. Here are some ideas to
start: use bright materials in various colours. Have your child glue coloured paper on the fish to make fins or draw different patterns onto the fish with a marker and glue the googly eyes into place, if you are planning to use the fish in water, a permanent marker will hold up the best!
Looking for practicing letters and numbers? Write them on a few creatures. Don’t forget that this is just an idea! Finally, add a paper clip to the mouth of each fish.
Now it's time to make your fishing rod! Wrap the decorative tape around one end of the stick to hold, this will be the handle of your fishing rod. Then, tie the string onto the other end and secure it with contact tape.
The final step is to tie the magnet on the other end of the string to be the “hook” to catch your sea creature.
Go fish!! Place all the creatures on the ground or in a large bin with some water, challenge your child and see who can land the best catch!
Practice colour vocabulary by asking your child what colour creature they catch, and work on animal recognition while you ask to try and catch a specific creature. Once all the creatures are caught, count forward how many you have and backward as you throw them back!
If you included letters on your creatures, you can encourage them to catch the lettered fish and spell their name.
Extra activity: Include some animals that do not belong under the sea; ask your child which ones don’t belong and why. Take a few minutes to talk about where the animal might live, what they eat etc.
There is so much hand-eye coordination going on as the children try to align the swinging magnet to the fish and depending on how you choose to set it up, your little one can learn and practice letters, numbers, and colours!
Ocean Life Sensory Bag
Today we have ocean-themed sensory activity for younger kids -- “The dancing crab”
Sensory bags are the perfect way for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers to explore things safely. Sensory bags are also a tool for kids to learn about a specific theme or topic. With a simple change in strategy, you can let your little one safely explore, build attention span, work on hand eye coordination and visual scanning.
There are different ways to use the sensory bag and make the crab dance! First create an environment that match with our activity, music always works! Is your little one tired? Try something soft and relaxing; did they just get up? Try something more festive and fun!
Tummy time, seated play or standing play!
Let’s place the sensory bag in front of your little one or tape it on the floor. If your baby isn’t yet able to reach in tummy time, use a pillow or folded towel to lift baby’s chest and free their hands to reach, touch and grasp the crab. Now, it’s time to dance! If you feel comfortable dance and join your baby saying ohh the crab its dancing, Let’s go dance!
If your child can sit up or stand up, you can let them hold and shake the bag or you can tape it to a vertical surface, any wall, window, or table will work!
As they explore, squeeze, and squish the sensory bag, the crab will move inside and sway back and forth like waves in the ocean and your children will have so much fun in a learning ocean experience!
Your own creature!
Use a paper plate and some loose parts. It’s an invitation to create the coolest ocean creature ever!
“Remember that you can turn each activity into a learning experience”
