Tissue Paper Seahorse:
Eric Carle’s artwork always inspires me, so this little seahorse craft was inspired by his book Mister Seahorse. I prepped a cut out seahorse shape and cut up tissue paper squares in green, blue, purple, and pink. Madelynn used a foam brush and watered down glue to attach the tissue paper. First she painted the seahorse, then stuck the tissue paper to the sticky spots, and finally painted over it again with more glue.
Octopus Bead Counting:
Madelynn totally called me out on the fact that this octopus look like a jellyfish, but hey I tried. I cut a paper plate in half, punched 8 holes and tied on yarn legs (or tentacles I guess!). I used a bit of washi tape wrapped around the end of each piece of yarn to make them easier to thread. Then Madelynn counted and threaded beads to match each number.
Ocean Letter Writing Tray:
We love salt trays for practicing pre-writing skills! I made this under the sea letter writing tray with blue salt (dyed with a little bit of gel food coloring), glitter, gems, and added letter cards as a model.
Play Dough Rainbow Fish:
We just couldn’t have an ocean unit without reading Rainbow Fish. Afterwards we made our own rainbow fish with this easy peasy play dough tray. All you need is: blue, purple and white play doh, fish shaped cookie cutters, sequins, gems, & googly eyes.
Under the Sea Stained Glass:
If you’ve followed along with our tot school adventures this year, you know I love a good stained glass window project! They always turn out so pretty and are a super easy way to keep little hands busy. First I cut out 2 black rectangles and ocean animal shapes from black construction paper. Then I stuck one rectangle on contact paper and Madelynn filled in with tissue paper squares for the water. Then she glued the animals and the second rectangle on top. Finally I helped her seal with another sheet of contact paper. Display in a sunny window 🙂
Beach Towel Ball Toss:
For this game I planned to use a large beach towel, then quickly realized it was way too big for little hands. So I swapped it out for a kitchen towel and we were good to go. I had Madelynn hold the towel loosely and try to catch a beach ball with it. Then I showed her how to snap the towel to make the ball fly out. After she got the hang of it, I grabbed a towel and we tried to toss the ball back and forth.
Ocean Ball Sorting
We were lucky enough to make it outside this week for some movement activities. We started with this ocean bubble color sort. To set up I put blue green and purple ball pit balls in a kiddie pool and placed 3 empty storage bins on the other side of the yard. Then I got Madelynn started by showing her how to grab a few balls and sort them into the 3 bins. Then all I did was watch her wear herself out!
Sponge Fish Target Toss:
For this gross motor activity, I cut a few sponges into fish shapes and dropped them in a bin of water. Then I drew a target with sidewalk chalk. Madelynn then tried to toss the wet fish sponges to hit the center of the target. Lots of splashy fun!
Chalk Ocean Sprayers:
Madelynn is always asking me to draw fun scenes with sidewalk chalk, so I made this ocean scene for her to “swim” through. Then she used some spray chalk I found in the Target Dollar Spot to run around and spray all the animals.
Flying Fish Catch:
We pulled out those sponge fish again for this super simple flying fish game. I tossed soaked fish sponges into the air and Madelynn used a tin tub to try to catch them. Lots of wet fun!
Sea Turtle – Peel and cut a kiwi into a thick oval slice. Halve grapes for the legs and head. Attach candy eyes with a bit of decorator icing. Draw a smile with a food coloring pen.
Ocean Pops – Drop a few Swedish fish candies into Popsicle molds. Fill with blue juice. Freeze and enjoy!
Ocean Sand Sensory Bin:
In this sensory bin: Ocean play sand, blue gems, mini ocean animal sand molds
Water Bead Ocean Sensory Bin:
In this sensory bin: Ocean water beads, ocean animals, fine motor tools, cups
Under the Sea Rescue Sensory Bin:
In this sensory bin: water, blue/clear gems, ocean animals, stretchy ocean animals, net, tweezers
Sea Foam Ocean Animals Sensory Bin:
In this sensory bin: water, dishsoap, green liquid watercolors, ocean animals
Seashell Dig Sensory Bin:
In this sensory bin: wet play sand, seashells, sand tools
Want all of this week’s printables and plans? You can grab them here:
Then check out all of our Tot School themes here:
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I absolutely love your tot school. I've been trying to do these schedules with my 2 and a half year old daughter. It's just wonderful…thank you!! They are so creative and easy to follow. Thank you for sharing these on your blog.
May I ask how old your M is now?
Look forward to more posts.
Thanks so much, 2 1/2 is the perfect age! Madelynn was 2 1/2 when we started Tot School activities and is 3 1/2 now. I also have a 1 year old, so we plan to switch things up a bit this summer and do weekly sensory bins that they can both enjoy which is tricky with a 1 year old that still tries to eat everything! Have fun playing with your little one!
Wow nice.
Love this! I’m planning my sons 4th birthday with an underwater theme… definitely planning to use some of these activities- thanks for sharing! Him and my almost 2 year old daughter will love them, I’m sure!
For the stained glass project, how did you use the contact paper? could i get a step by step on how you did this? I teach preschool students and would love to do this!
Did you ever get answer to this, I want to do it in my classroom!
Just got the spring pack. Where did you get the wooden trays?
I save the wooden trays from Melissa and Doug toys and use those.
We have been doing a lot of your projects this summer. Thanks for sharing! We made the octopus tonight. I just went ahead and called it a jellyfish based on your comments above. My daughter says, “No mom, that is an octopus!” Just had to share. LOL.
Too funny, definitely looks like a jellyfish, my art skills were not on point that day 😉
I love your ideas. You are fantastic!! Keep going on doing this marvelous work. Do you have an email so I can suscribe? Have you taught of do this themes: pirates, superheroes, musical instruments? I hope you don’t mind this suggestions.
Hi,
Thank you so much for all of your great ideas. This summer is my first year teaching summer camp and your website was a wonderful resource. It definitely helped reduce my stress level with fun activities and easy projects.
Thanks,
Rosanne
I Loved the Tot School Ocean Theme, especially the ocean animals stained glass; the toss the beach ball in the towel, great ideas.
Thanks for sharing!