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OCEAN THEME

CRAFTS:

Balloon and Streamer Octopus
Blow up a purple balloon and tie it. Let the children count out and attach 8 purple streamers to the tied end and stick reinforcement circles to the streamers for the tentacles. You can also use them for the eyes! 

Creature Sponging
Print with sponges shaped like under water creatures. Children could create any ocean creatures they like with any materials they like (have scissors, variety of paper, paint, markers, yarn, etc. available and put together on a group mural if desired). 

Dolphins
This is a very simple project but kids enjoy it. Just cut a dolphin pattern out of light gray construction paper. And let the kids water color them. If you have never water colored on construction paper it is neat, because the colors blend into one another!

Egg Carton Octopus
Cut out one cup of an egg carton, paint it pinkish purple. Attach 8 paper arms.

Fish Bowls 
Find a pattern of a good size fish bowl, and cut it out of a paper plate. Paint it blue like water. Before paint dries sprinkle any color of glitter around the bottom of the bowl. Then after its all dry, glue on one big fish or lots of small fish, now you can cover this with saran wrap but don't have to.

Fish in the Sea
There are so many fish in the deep blue sea. What color of fish does _________________see?
Insert child's name in the blank. Put a different color fish on a finger mitt or flannel board. You could make a big book.

Fingerpainting with Shaving Cream
Finger paint with green, blue tinted shaving cream. Offer various "combs" to drag through and make ripples.

Finger paint With Ocean Colors
Print with sponges shaped like under water creatures. Children could create any ocean creatures they like with any materials they like (have scissors, variety of paper, paint, markers, yarn, etc.) available and put together on a group mural if desired.

Fingerpainting the Ocean
Finger paint with shades of blue. When dry, chalk draw different sea life.

Lace Whales
Make your own cutouts of whales, laminate, and punch holes for students to lace with yarn. 

Octopus
Materials: 1 brown paper lunch sack per child, labeled, 1 rubber band per child, white paper reinforcements, marker, newspaper, scissors
Directions: Have the child scrunch up a piece of newspaper and place it inside the paper bag. Tightly wrap the rubber band around the bag at the base of the newspaper. Cut up the bag to make eight strips for octopus tentacles. Use a marker to draw octopus's eyes and mouth on head. Stick reinforcements on the tentacles.

Octopus Arms
Cut up an old bath mat (the kind with the suction cups on the bottom) Cut into strips for tentacles. It's fun to use them in the sensory table with water.

Octopus
Glue together two cup sections from the bottom of a cardboard egg carton, and let them dry. Cover them with black paint. Attach eight yarn tentacles with glue to the bottom. Cut eyes and a mouth from paper, and glue them in place.

Oatmeal Octopus
Get a variety of colored powder paint and lots of oatmeal. Give each child a small sandwich bag with some oatmeal in to. Let them choose any color powder paint put about a tablespoon of paint into the bag, close and shake! Do this for all the colors you want. When you are ready to do the project give each child an octopus pattern and their choice of colored oatmeal, any and all colors! Spread the glue and put the oatmeal on!

Paper Octopus
Cut a paper plate in half. Glue eight streamers on the back for tentacles. The kids can color the plate to match the color of the streamers or use whatever color they want.

Paper Plate Whales
Each child requires: half a paper plate; a selection of black, white and coloured construction paper, along with ideas for fin and tail shapes (or patterns for the youngest kids to trace); scissors; glue; and a black or red marker. 
Using the straight side of the half plate as the top of the whale, the kids should cut out and glue on big eyes (white and black), tail, and side and top fin. To finish the whale, let them draw on a big happy smile. 

Paper Plate Octopus
Using a paper plate have the children paint blue or gray. Then add streamers for legs and hang from ceiling.

Paper Bag Whale
Needed: small paper bags, paint, construction paper(black and white), yarn, newspaper
Directions: Have children stuff bags with newspaper. Tie the end with yarn and create the tail. Paint the bag gray or any other whale colors (black and white, etc.). Cut eyes out of construction paper & glue onto bag when paint is dry. Cut out spout shapes from white construction paper and glue to the top.

Paper Plate Oysters
Gather a paper plate and a cotton ball for each child. Also you will need gray and pink paints and glue. The kids should fold the plates in half and paint the insides of the "oyster" pink. When the pink is dried they should paint the outside of the plate gray. To complete they can glue the "pearl" into the center of the oyster.

Swimming Octopus
Have the children cut out a half circle from construction paper or cut a paper plate in half for an octopus body. Let the children use crayons to draw eyes. Then have them each glue eight pieces of white crepe paper to the bottom edges of the octopus bodies to make arms. Hang the finished octopi from a string stretched across a window and watch them "swim" as air moves through the room.

Sand Pictures
Use sand (or salt- its cheaper) mixed with dry tempera (add a tablespoon at a time to the salt/sand to achieve the color you want.) Use clear jars and make sand pictures by layering the colors. Use pencils to create points around the edges. Fill in top with glue to keep sand from shifting when done. Let dry and put lid on.

Shell Collage
Use broken up shells to create a collage on Styrofoam meat packages.

Sea Book
Cut different sea shapes from Styrofoam and glue to wooden blocks or such. Use as stamps with paint on separate pages to create different groups of animals. Use a fish shape to make a 'school' of fish. Use a whale shape to make a 'pod' of whales and so on. Then hole punch and "sew" the different pages together to make a take home book.

Starfish Rubbings
Cut a bunch of stars out of sandpaper. Lots of different sizes and different grades of sandpaper. Give each child a plain sheet of construction paper and crayons. You can also tape the stars around the tables and the kids can walk around and rub on any star they want.

Sand Art
Sand art either in a baby food jar or let the kids squirt glue in fun designs on paper and then sprinkle sand over the glue.

Sandpaper Print
Materials: Any fabric - even construction paper works!, Sandpaper (any grade), Crayons, Iron (Always have an adult present when using), Ironing board, Wax paper and old towel
Directions: 1. Draw on the sandpaper with the crayons. The drawing must be on the grainy side of the paper. You must press really hard with the crayon on the sandpaper.
2: Set the iron to high and remember to always have an adult present when working with the iron.
3: Lay an old towel on the ironing board. Put your canvas bag on top of it. Put the sandpaper, with the crayoned side down, on top of the bag. Iron the back side of the sandpaper. You have to iron until you see a waxy print on the sandpaper.
4: Lift the sandpaper! Wow! Isn't that cool? Your sandpaper has left a print.
5: While the bag is still warm you can color on it with crayons. This is great for touch ups or just black-lining your design.
6: Lay wax paper on top of the design. Lay the towel on top of that and iron one last time.

Sea Horse
Cut out a figure of a sea horse and the children spread glue on and glue on a googly eye. I let the children sprinkle the Sea horse with sand to give it, its texture.

The Ocean Is Full Of Beautiful Colors
How about tissue paper collages on fish shapes using a rainbow of different colors. Tissue paper can be cut or torn by the children to make various shapes and sizes. OR if you prefer not using the fish shapes, how about tissue paper collages on paper using the various ocean colors (blues, greens and purples). In either project, paint on the tissue paper with liquid starch or diluted school glue to give it a "wet look" as the children create it and then a stiff texture when it has dried. The children may want to add fish to this "ocean". If so, provide small rubber stamps of fish for the children to stamp on fish pictures or furnish more tissue paper in other colors for them to tear and cut their fish shapes. Do either of these when the ocean picture has dried.
(If you want to use this as a sort of a printing experience, you can have the children peel off the tissue paper when they have finished painting it on and while their projects are still wet, and the colors will remain, kind of a watercolor look.)

Whale Fun 
Give cutout shapes of whales to each child. Make plenty of decoration supplies available, such as glitter, markers, dry noodles, etc. Have each child decorate the whale however they want, and give each whale a name. Hang the whales from the ceiling around the room.

Whales in Water
Take a clear empty 2 liter drink bottle and filled it about 1/3 full of water. Take a small blue balloon, and as it is held in the bottle, blow up the balloon and tie a knot in the end. Add a couple of drops of blue food coloring to the water. Turn the bottle on its side & there is a whale floating in the waves.

GAMES & ACTIVITIES:

Eight of
How many legs does an octopus have? Count them and explain octo means eight. Collect different items of eight in each group.

Life-sized Whale
Have students pick one of the smaller or medium-sized whales (not the 100-foot blue whale!). Have students research how long a female whale of that type would be and how long a newborn calf of that type would be. Supervise students as they draw, cut out, and color a life-sized whale and newborn calf. Put the cutouts on the wall of the classroom for the day. 

Octopus
One person is the "octopus." Everyone lines up on one edge of the boundaries and must run to the opposite side when the octopus yells out "octopus." The people that get tagged by the octopus become frozen taggers. They are allowed to pivot on one foot and tag people as they run by. The last person caught is the new octopus.

Octopus
Mark a goal line at each end of playing field. Choose a child to be the octopus, the rest of the children are fish. The object is for the octopus to catch the fish by tagging them with a sponge ball. If a child gets hit they must freeze and become an octopus tentacle. The tentacle may help the octopus by using their hands outstretched to tag fish. Only the octopus may move however. To begin playing, all fish line up at one goal line. The octopus calls out,"Fish, fish, swim in my ocean." At this command the fish must try to cross the ocean without getting caught. The last one to be tagged is the next octopus.

Octopus Game
Play pin the legs on the octopus - EVERYONE pretty much WINS!

Shark Hearing
Sharks have REALLY good hearing in order to find their food. Listen for a moment for all the sounds around us, then name them. Try to figure out how far away things are by the volume of the sound. Then tell them that we are going to play a listening game. We are going to be sharks looking for our dinner. Have all of the children except one go out of the room where they cannot see inside the your room. The remaining child sets a kitchen timer for 4 minutes, (with adult help),hides it somewhere in the room, then tells the "sharks" that dinner is coming. The kids go into the room VERY quietly, listening for the ticking. It is funny to watch the face of a child who picks up the sound and starts to zero in on it. The other kids notice and zoom over to that area.

Under the Sea
Put 3 colors of cutout fish with magnet attached on pond on floor. Use fishing pole with magnet attached to catch fish in order or by color recognition. Or have different types of fish and fish by that.

What is that Sound?
Tell students you are going to play a sound for them and that you want them to try to identify it. Play a recording of a whale singing (either a previously recorded copy or, while hiding the monitor from students, one of the songs that is available on the Song of the Whale website). If students cannot guess that it is a whale, give them hints until they guess (the sound is made by an animal, the animal is a mammal, the animal lives in the ocean, etc.). Explain that you played the whale song because the class is starting a new unit on whales. Next, make a list of the types of whales that the class presently knows (killer whales, humpback whales, etc.) and post the list in the classroom.

Whale Charting
Help the students make a chart comparing sizes of the different types of whales. Try to make the drawings to scale as much as possible so that students can see the relative sizes of the different types of whales and see which whales are the largest, the smallest, etc.
 

SONGS:

Crazy Crabs
Crazy crabs walk sideways,
What a giddy way to go !
Snails slip slide forwards
And that is very slow!
Ducks waddle, waddle,
And that is funny too,
And what about the hopping
Of the big red kangaroo?
(Actions:Translate words into actions)

Cranky Crabs
Five cranky crabs were digging on the shore.
One swam into a net and then there were four.
Four cranky crabs were floating in the sea.
One got tangled up in seaweed then there were three.
Three cranky crabs were wondering what to do.
One dug a deep, deep hole. Then there were two.
Two cranky crabs were warming in the sun.
One got scooped up in a cup.Then there was one.
One cranky crab was smarter than his friends.
He hid between the jagged rocks.
That's how the story ends.

Eight Arms
(Tune: Did You Ever See A Lassie?)
Once I saw an octopus, octopus, octopus,
Once I saw an octopus down deep in the sea.
Then out came her eight arms,
Her eight arms, her eight arms,
Then out came her eight arms to swim with me!

I'm A Big Whale
(Clementine)
I am swimming, I am swimming,
I am swimming in the sea.
I'm a big whale and I'm swimming
I am swimming in the sea.
I am singing , I am singing,
I am singing in the sea.
I'm a big whale and I'm singing,
I am singing in the sea.
I am spouting, I am spouting,
I am spouting in the sea.
I'm a big whale and I'm spouting,
I am spouting in the sea.

Ocean Chant
Slippery fish slippery fish gliding through the water
slippery fish slippery fish
gulp gulp gulp
Oh no he's been eaten by .. an octopus
Octopus octopus squiggling through the water
Octopus octopus
Gulp gulp gulp
On no he's been eaten by .. a tuna fish
Tuna fish tuna fish flashing through the water
Tuna fish tuna fish
Gulp gulp gulp
Oh no he's been eaten by .. a great white shark
Great white shark great white shark lurking in the water
great white shark great white shark
gulp gulp gulp
Oh no he's been eaten by a humongous whale
Humongous whale humongous whale spouting in the water
humongous whale humongous whale
bur......rr......rp
Pardon Me!!

The Whales
(tune of I'm A Little Teapot)
I'm a humpback whale,
I'm very strong.
I leap about
And sing a song.
I like to eat my fill
In the Northern Sea.
But in the winter,
South I flee.
I am a beluga,
I'm all white.
From head to tail
I'm quite a sight.
You can hear me singing
Way up north,
Playing and swimming
Back and forth.
I'm a mighty orca
Black and white.
In the sea
I'm a beautiful sight.
I'm not very big,
But I am sleek.
I hunt for my food
Cause I have teeth.

The Whales
(tune of I'm a little teapot)
I'm a humpback whale, I'm very strong.
I leap about And sing a song.
I like to eat my fill In the Northern Sea. But in the winter, South I flee.
I am a beluga, I'm all white.
From head to tail I'm quite a sight.
You can hear me singing Way up north,
Playing and swimming back and forth.
I'm a mighty orca Black and white.
In the sea I'm a beautiful sight.
I'm not very big, But I am sleek.
I hunt for my food, Cause I have teeth.

The Octopus
Sung to: "Little White Duck"
There are eight tentacles
Swimming in the ocean,
Eight tentacles making a commotion
Who could belong to so many feet?
The octopus does and they help him eat.
He has eight tentacles
Swimming in the ocean,
Swim, Swim, Swim.
 

STORIES:

Have any good stories? Let us know!
 

FOOD SUGGESTIONS:

Fish in the Sea
Need: Italian bread or french bread
Cream cheese
Goldfish crackers
Blue food coloring
Bread knife
Bowl
Plastic knives
Waxed paper
Slice bread. Mix blue food color and cream cheese. Spread cream cheese on bread. Put goldfish in the blue sea. EAT

Mermaid Potion 
Freeze ice cubes made with water and one drop of blue food coloring per cube. Use warm water to prepare powdered lemonade drink mix and add one 12 oz. can of warm lemon lime soda pop. Add 8 drops of yellow food coloring to the lemonade/soda pop mix. Pour lemonade/soda pop mix into a clear plastic glass and drop in one or two blue ice cubes and stir.

Ocean Snack
Have blue jello - complete with gummy fish! - for snack. 

Octopus Soup
Ingredients
Hot dogs (fattest kind you can find)
Small pasta shells
Directions
1. Slice hot dogs lengthwise to within 1" from endBR> 2. Keep slicing the hot dog until you have about 4-8 "legs"
3. Boil shells according to package directions
4. About 4 minutes before the pasta is done put the hot dogs in the boiling water.
5. When completely cooked, drain well
6. Toss shells with butter or margarine and serve with the hot dogs
7. The hot dogs will curl up and look just like an octopus!

Octopop!
In a Dixie cup, pour juice (orange, apple, fruit punch, etc.), put in a craft stick. Put in gummy worms hanging over the edge to look like legs. When the pop is taken out of the cup it looks like an octopus on a stick. 
 

TIPS/NOTES:

Fishes / Whales 
1, Discuss the similarities and differences between whales and fish. Although they share the same environment, there are important differences between fish and whales. Consider the following questions:
a. How do they breathe?
b. How do they swim?
c. How are their young born? d. What kind of skin do they have?
2. Using what you know about mammals, explain why whales are mammals.
3. Some species of whales are in danger of becoming extinct. Why do you think this is?
4. What are some things that can be done to prevent whales from becoming extinct? 

Octopus Information
An octopus has 8 arms called tentacles. These arms are webbed together by a layer of skin called a mantle. Under this layer of skin are color cells that make the octopus look white, grey, orange, red, or brown. Being able to change colors can help the octopus catch its dinner. It's bright colors attract and confuse other sea animals. When they swim closer to look at the octopus, he catches the animal for his dinner. There are rows of suction cups along the edges of the arms that stick to objects and help the octopus pull itself along and move. When the octopus is in danger, it can squirt a cloud of black ink so the animal can't see it. Then it swims away fast. If one of the tentacles gets caught or bitten off by an animal, like a shark, it will grow back in a few weeks. Octopus eggs are very tiny (microscopic), about the size of a grain of rice. Mother octopi lay about 1000 eggs at a time. She cares for them in a nest she builds under rocks. Once the eggs hatch, the mother dies. Her work is done. 

Where do they live?
Where do octopus' live? What do they eat? Cut out and laminate pictures of real octopus' and discuss their features.