Add seashells to your sand table for a great beach feel. Take a clear two-liter bottle and draw sea shapes (seaweed, waves, etc) on the outside of it with a permanent marker. Fill the bottle mostly full with water. Next add about a 1/4-cup of white vinegar and 1 Teaspoon of baking soda to the bottle. Drop a small handful of raisins into the bottle. And then watch. The raisins will collect bubbles all around them from the vinegar and baking soda chemical reaction this will cause them to float to the top. Once the reaction calms back down they will sink back down and then form more bubbles (causing them to rise again!) This will repeat for up to a half-hour. This is so fun! My kids just loved it. Have your children wear their swimsuits one day and have a beach party complete with beach balls, volleyball (over a short net or no net at all), Frisbee's, etc. Cut the end out of a paper bag. Next have your children paint the bag and decorate it as an octopus. Have them attach eight streamers (tentacles) to the end of the bag. On the other end of the bag punch two holes (reinforce with tape and then punch) and put yarn through it. Your children can now hang up the Octopus windsock outside a window and watch the wind blow through it. In your dramatic play area set up a seafood restaurant complete with menus, plastic food, and play money. They can pretend to be waiters and waitresses. Remind your children to order healthy food. Create an under the sea feel in your room by weaving crepe paper streamers in sea colors (aqua, and darker green) through fishing line strung near the ceiling. When the fans, heat, or air conditioner is on it causes the streamers to wave and look like you are under the sea. You can accomplish a similar effect by just hanging streamers directly from the roof of the classroom. You can also hang pictures of different sea creatures from the ceiling to complete the effect. For a neat sensory activity hang a fishing net on one wall of your classroom Create an ocean area by putting as many ocean items as you can in the area. Some ideas are:
*Fishing Nets
*Sharks jaws/teeth
*Dried seahorses
*Seaweed
*Shells
*Sponges
*Starfish Build a submarine by attaching several boxes and making small doors for your children to go from box to box. Talk about pirates and then put pirate hats and eye patches in your dramatic play area and let your children pretend to be pirates. For added emphasis bury things in your sand table and have your children search for the treasure Paint a box to look like an ocean scene (seaweed, coral, etc) Attach fish cutouts to strings. Have your children dangle these over the top of the box and act out different things. Staple two large paper plates together (where the eating surfaces are facing) leaving an unstapled place large enough for a hand. Staple two small plates to each side of this opening (each plate is stapled to only one plate) Cut out a wedge from each of the small plates (to make this look like a tail) and curve them outward. Now let your children stick their hand through the fishes tail and use it as a puppet. Note: You can also let them decorate these anyway that they want. Attach your children's pictures and fish cut outs to a net with the heading "What a Catch" Create an underwater environment on your bulletin board (blue water, brown sand, and seaweed). Then have your children make different sea creatures (fish, octopus, jelly fist, starfish, crabs, etc.) and put them on the board. Title the board something like "Our Little Ocean," "Our Underwater Zoo," "Under the Sea," etc Add blue hair gel (or toothpaste), small beads, and foam fish to a Zip-Loc bag. Close the bag and put it into a second bag. Super glue and tape the second bag shut. Now your children can play with this ocean bag.! Cover a bulletin board with blue cellophane to make it appear to be under the sea. Use a small cooler and put everything that you would need for a trip to the beach:
*Beach Towels
*Sun Glasses
*Swim Suits
*Sand Toys
*Soda Bottles (Empty)
*Kite Get as many different types of fish as you can and let your children taste a small portion of them. Note: check for any religious beliefs or allergies that may conflict with this activity. Have your children paint several clear drop cloths with sea animal pictures. Then create an ocean 'room' in your classroom by hanging these cloths. Put as much ocean material in this room as you can (shells, fish aquarium, etc) Block off a separate ocean area in your room by using cardboard car windshield covers with a beach scene. Put as much ocean material in this room as you can (shells, fish aquarium, etc) Go to a health food or ethnic grocery store and buy different types of seaweed. Let your children taste the different types of seaweed Make blue Jell-O and put in gummy fish. Make cookies in the shape of sea creatures (fish, star fish, sea horses, etc) Get a sheet and let your children spray colored water in it (water dyed with food coloring in spray bottles) Some good sea colors to use are green, blue, purple. Let them spray the sheet until they get bored. Once it is dried this makes a wonderful tie-dyed sea effect.
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