Here are the rest of the O is for Ocean activities. Sorry it took so long. I have also included a couple more free printables to go along with the other free ocean printables I posted forever ago. For the printables, just click on the picture and download it.

I am super picky about handwriting pages. So many of them are in weird fonts or too small for beginning writers, so I finally decided to try making my own. This one worked out really well for me. I hope you like it too. Hopefully there will be more to come.

I loved this writing activity. Sweet Girl was really into sharks. We read a few books about sharks and then filled out this shark facts paper. I was surprised at how much she remembered.

Here are a few more activities we did that didn't require printables.

Literacy/Writing Activities

• Fishing for Letters- I printed these fish patterns off of Oopsey Daisy, wrote the ABCs on the back and slipped a paper clip on the front. Sweet Girl used our magnetic fishing pole to catch one and then practiced the name and sound.
• Fish Tracing-We practiced writing by tracing the pieces of our wooden fish puzzle.
• Ocean Writing- I filled a gallon sized bag with blue paint and then used a Q-tip to practice writing letters.

Math Activities

• Goldfish Graphing- I printed this goldfish graph off of Oopsey Daisy. We used the colored goldfish to graph them by color.
• Land or Ocean Animal Sorting- We used our growing collection of plastic animals to sort which ones live on land and which live in the ocean.
• Counting Octopus-I made this octopus out of construction paper and wrote numbers 1-8 on the body. Each leg had circular suction cup stickers (okay they were flowers, but at least they were round). The first leg had one sticker, the second leg had two stickers, etc. Sweet Girl counted the suction cups and matched them to the correct numbers.
• Roll and Cover- We also played a roll and cover octopus game from Teachers Pay Teachers. 

Other Activities

• Five Little Jellyfish- I made these by gluing some ribbon between two pieces of felt. We took them away one at a time as we said this poem:                                                                                           5 little jellyfish swimming by the shore, the yellow one got lost and that left 5.                                       4 little jellyfish swimming in the sea, the blue one swam away and that left 3.                                         3 little jellyfish in the ocean so blue, the red one swam away and that left 2.                                         2 little jellyfish swimming in the sun, the orange one took a dive and that left 1.                                     1 little jellyfish swimming all alone, it was time to go home and that left none.     
• Cupcake Liner Jellyfish- Cut a cupcake liner in half and glue down, then glue tissue paper strips down as the tentacles. Add some googly eyes.
• Textured Starfish- We talked about how starfish are rough and that helps them cling to the rock. Cut out a star shape and cover with glue and rice. 
• What's in the Ocean?- I found these foam ocean stickers at the dollar store. Sweet Girl stuck them on our ocean paper while we talked about the different animals.                                               

I loved this unit. There are so many amazing things to learn about in the ocean, and I learned a lot of new things right along with Sweet Girl. I hope you enjoy learning more about it too.

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I promised a few more printables to go along with our O is for Ocean preschool unit, and here they are. Click on the picture and you can print them off for your own personal use. They aren't perfect, but I hope you have fun using them with your preschooler.

 

Ocean Animal Pattern Cards: We used these for making patterns, but you could also use them for basic sorting.

Ocean Counting Clipcards: These go along with the Beginning Sounds Clipcards. Count the number of sea creatures in the box and clip a clothespin over the correct number.

Ocean or Land Animal: Cut the pictures apart and have children sort them by which animals live in the ocean and which live on the land.

Ocean Writing Page: I used this at the end of our ocean unit, so we had already talked about a lot of different ocean animals. I wrote what Sweet Girl said, and then she drew a picture of her ocean animal.

I have a few more O is for Ocean preschool activities still to come. It was a really fun unit.

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We just wrapped up our O is for Ocean preschool unit.  I will get our activities and some really awesome printables up soon, but I wanted to start with the books. There are a ton of really good ocean books out there. These are a few of our favorites. Enjoy!

Big Sharks

This is a great book for focusing on sharks. Obviously. It has lots of great pictures of different kinds of sharks and other cool facts about sharks. Sometimes nonfiction books can be hard to read with little kids because they are too wordy and the print is small. This one was perfect for those young readers. The print is a good size and, although it gives a lot of information, it isn't too much. Sweet Girl became a little obsessed with sharks after reading this book.

Wish for a Fish

I was surprised at how much I liked this book. I am not the biggest fan of the Cat in the Hat. Does that make me a bad person? Anyway, this book has so much information. It goes through all the layers of the ocean (I didn't even know there were layers in the ocean.), and what animals live in each layer. With each animal there are a few interesting facts and some fun pictures. It's a little long, but a great book anyway.

This is Not My Hat

I love this book. It just cracks me up. It is the 2013 Caldecott Medal winner, which is the award given for best illustrations. It starts off with a little fish admitting he stole a hat and is on the run from a big fish. It isn't a real informational book, but it takes place in the ocean and and it is so cute that it had to be included on this list.

Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea

I loved the brightly colored illustrations in this book. It made for a fun read. The little boy in the story is diving deep down in the water and meets all sorts of different ocean life. The cutest part was the end when we find out that he was diving down in his own bathtub. 

Rays, Sharks and Sea Turtles
I bought these books together in a set. They are great nonfiction books for really early readers. There are only a few words on a page so it's really easy for kids to understand. The photographs in the books are great too. they show close ups of the animals with labels. Perfect for preschool!

Ten Little Fish

This is a great fish counting book. It starts with ten little fish swimming together, and one by one they go away. The illustrations were adorable. 

Sea Stars

This came in the same set as the Rays, Sharks and Sea Turtles books. It's another great nonfiction. There are some really cool pictures of star fish. Did you know if there arms break off they can grow new ones? I do, because I read this book.

Swimmy
A little black fish lives in a school of little red fish, until one day they are all eaten, and the black fish has to go find a new home. He swims through the ocean and meets all kinds of new animals in the ocean. He eventually finds a new school of fish and helps save them. I'll admit I was a little shocked when his entire school dies on the first page, but the book gets better after that. Leo Leoni has very unique illustrations.

Mister Seahorse

I loved this story. Mr. Seahorse carries the eggs from Mrs. Seahorse in a pouch in his tummy. Mr. Seahorse swims through the ocean and talks to other fish who are also carrying their eggs around in unique ways.

A House for Hermit Crab
Hermit Crab's shell is starting to feel tight, so he goes in search of a new shell, but when he finds one it is just too plain. As he wanders through the ocean he meets different sea creatures to help decorate his shell. My favorite thing about this book is that you get a look at some of the other sea creatures besides the typical fish, shark, or whale. Crab decorates his shell with a snail, a sea anemone and other creatures. By the time he is finished decorating his shell, it starts feeling tight again and it's time to start all over meeting new friends and decorating a new shell. I loved this book.

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We have been working on our O is for Ocean unit in preschool. I made these clip cards to help Sweet Girl with her beginning sounds. She is so good at recognizing letters, and she even knows most of their sounds, but she struggles with attaching those sounds to words. We hear a lot of things like "Mmm, mmm, house. House starts with m." This activity was great for putting sounds and words together.

If you aren't familiar with clip cards here is the basic idea. Say the name of the picture and then isolate the beginning sound. Then find the letter that makes that sound and clip a clothes pin over it.

I am just experimenting with making some of my own preschool printables, and thought I would share them with you. All you need to do is click on the picture, print, and cut them out and you're ready to go. I printed them on cardstock and laminated them for durability, and because I just really like to laminate things.

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