Here are some of the things we did during our oceans unit.
Compared a few of the major shark species
We read a lot about sharks so we decided to make a chart
Played with this cool plastic ocean floor my mom brought over
Played a game called Krill that my mom brought.
Basically you have to form food chains. It was really fun. We adapted the rules a bit since it's geared toward a slightly older group.
Talked about fossils coming from animals getting trapped in the mud or sand and matched the fossils to their names.
This one was just for fun since grandma brought a bunch of stuff from school for us to borrow. Anything fossil is super cool at our house!
Made ocean animals out of playdough
Jellyfish
Manta ray (the largest stingray)
Tried to measure water temperature. This activity failed big time since I couldn't find a thermometer that was not digital. We ended up just feeling the water (one without ice, one with one ice cube, one with two ice cubes and one with three ice cubes) and talking about how ice changes the ocean temperature.
Made sand art sea horses (the day we read and learned about sea horses)
Preston isn't a big crafter yet so we do our projects together. Here's what ours turned out like.
Made sand art jars and pens (again thanks to materials from grandma)
During our time talking about the Arctic and Southern Oceans, Dylan got to make insta-snow (yet another item provided by grandma) He thought it was so cool. And you can reuse it after the water evaporates so we have made "snow" a few times.
Did the crab walk (after reading "A House for Hermit Crab")
Made an ocean with puffy paint
Labeled the fins of a shark
Went fishing (with our magnetic fishing poles and fish with paper clips)
Sorted multi-color gold fish crackers
Used poster board to create an ocean picture
Visited the Tree House Museum
Found ocean animal hats in the dress up bin and played ocean animals
Played Octopus Dominos. The kids LOVED this game. Easy but fun for Dylan. Really good for Preston.
Talked about salt water verses fresh water and did a "sink or float" experiment with an egg (FYI you need quite a bit of salt to make this one work)
Played with ocean animals in the bathtub over and over again
Other Things We Did
- Ate tuna fish sandwiches, talapia and other ocean foods
- Were given a gift card to Red Lobster to take the family out for dinner
- My mom came a couple times during my time on the couch and did school with the kids. She taught them about Alvin, a submersible that explores the ocean floor and was used to locate a submerged hydrogen bomb lost in a USAF midair accident. She also taught Dylan about hydrothermic vents. Very cool stuff she teaches her junior high students.
- We still have plans to visit a local fish market if I can find it
- We have a couple books left to read and a couple more art projects (sea turtles for sure). I will post a picture if I remember to take one.
There are probably another dozen things we did, but I can't seem to remember them all and didn't take pictures. It really was a crazy, super-chaotic, trying time for us. We survived the life moments though and thoroughly enjoyed anything and everything about oceans. Dylan really gets into the units. He likes themes a lot so much of what he plays, draws, reads and discusses seems to stem from the current unit we are studying.
